


Adventure

by Zylo



Series: Insanity AU [10]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Fantasy, Fantasy elements, M/M, Multi, sympathetic deceit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-06-26 06:20:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 23,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15657516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zylo/pseuds/Zylo
Summary: It started as a simple run-in with the dragon witch. She's the very least of anyone's problems right now though.





	1. Need for Adventure

"Hey Gunther, what's this?" Arlo asked, holding up some kind of mechanical disc. He, Gunther, and Aiden were in the Demon Realm, retrieving some important items from Gunther's old home. Gunther walked over and raised an eyebrow curiously.

  
"That's not one of my inventions so I can't tell you off the top of my head," Gunther answered. "Where did you find it?"

  
Arlo motioned towards the messy excuse for a bookshelf, "Found it under a couple books."

  
"Let me see," Aiden said, holding out his hand. Once Arlo handed the item to him, he studied it. "Hmm... You got any enemies Gun? Ya know, besides Damon?"

  
Gunther and Arlo glanced at each other at that. "Not that I'm aware of," Gunther said, "outside of the local bars, I've never been that social with the other demons of the realm. Why?"

  
"Just a shot in the dark; thought it might be some kind of tracker thing," Aiden shrugged.

  
"Someone's been playing too much _Ratchet and Clank_ ," Gunther replied with a smirk while Arlo snickered.

  
"Not gonna deny that. Those games are fun," Aiden remarked. He then gestured to the boxes stacked against the wall. "So, is this everything?"

  
"Everything of importance," Gunther spoke as he opened a portal back home. Quickly, the trio grabbed the items and walked through, back to Thomas's house. With one final look, Gunther let the portal close.

* * *

  
"What's with us and dragons lately?" Virgil muttered, putting on a brave face.

  
The day had started off simply enough. When Roman found out that Aiden, Arlo, and Gunther traveled to the Demon Realm, he started with his over-dramatic offended act because they were having an adventure without him. "Adventuring is what I do! It's been so long since I last took part in one!"

  
"Roman, it has only been a few weeks since the issue with Damon," Logan pointed out, not looking up from his book.

  
"A few weeks too many, my lovely nerd!" Roman exclaimed. While Logan rolled his eyes, the prince continued, "I crave the thrill of adventure!"

  
That little exchange had brought Roman, along with a reluctant Logan and Virgil, to the Imagination. In turn, that led them to a chance encounter with the fabled Dragon Witch, which ended with them in their current predicament - being held prisoner in her tower.

  
"Is this thrilling enough for you, Roman?" Logan deadpanned, sitting on the floor with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

  
"I can understand why you're angry, my dear Microsoft nerd. However, I will get us out of here in no time!" Roman said triumphantly, pointing his finger into the air. As soon as he said that, he heard cackling from the Dragon Witch fill the air, followed by a shout from a distance.

  
"That's a good one, " _your highness_ "! Good luck with that!"

  
Despite their current predicament, Virgil found himself fighting the urge to laugh.  Between that exchange and Roman making offended noises, it was rather tough. All the while, Logan just shook his head, wishing he was back home already.

* * *

  
After stashing the boxes away in Gunther's room out in the real world, the three focused and in a moment, they were in the mindscape. As if on cue, Deceit rose up beside them. "Pops, we don't have a potential problem."

  
Aiden looked over at the other side, confusion on his face. "What's the issue, lad?..."


	2. Transformed

"What in the world?" Arlo was sitting on the couch, a look of disbelief on his face. Aiden and Gunther were sitting next to him, both with equally confused looks. Before them sat three small dragons; a red one, a dark blue one, and a purple one. Of them, the purple and blue ones were glaring at the red one who in turn was grinning sheepishly.

  
"Patton and I _didn't_ find them running around outside the house. There was also this left with them," Deceit said, handing a scroll over to Arlo. As he looked at the scroll, Arlo read it aloud.

  
" _To whom it may concern,_

  
_I found your little friends trespassing on my territory._

  
_As such, I decided to have a bit of fun and turn them into precious little dragons themselves._

  
_Good day,_

  
_-The Dragon Witch_ "

  
Arlo and Gunther glanced at Aiden, worried about how he was going to take this. Aiden crossed his arms and looked at the red dragon, raising an eyebrow. "You really screwed up big time, Roman."

  
In response, Roman looked everywhere except at Aiden, scratching the back of his head and huffing slightly. All the while Logan was nodding his head in agreement with the other side's statement. As for Virgil?  


  
Aiden looked down in surprise when he felt claws clinging to him. Virgil had his front legs wrapped around the other side's waist as best he could. Once he felt he was as close enough to Aiden as possible, Virgil turned to look at Roman and stuck his tongue out at the other dragon. At that, Roman made what they guessed was the dragon version of his typical offended noises.

  
" _Virgil!_ "

  
Patton was standing at the bottom of the stairs now, a stern look on his face. "Kiddo, you know better than to do that."

  
Virgil merely scowled and turned his head away.

  
"Relax Patton, that's pretty tame to what the lad could have done," Aiden said, absentmindedly pulling the small dragon closer to himself.

  
"Yeah, Aiden and I know first hand," Arlo added, helping Logan jump up onto the couch. Logan nodded his head in gratitude towards Arlo and sat down.

  
"So what are we _not_ supposed to do? We _do_ know if this spell will wear off on its own or not," Deceit interrupted.

  
"I could look through my spell books and see if there's anything in regards to this kind of magic," Gunther replied, having felt sorry for Roman and inviting the dragon to sit next to him on the arm of the couch. "There's no guarantee I'll find anything though..."

  
"Before we get ahead of ourselves," Patton spoke up, getting the attention of the others, "we should tell Thomas what's going on. He was planning a new video in a few days after all."

  
"Ah yeah, that's right," Aiden muttered. "Alright, alright...Patton, you go bring Tom here. Where's the rest of the family?"

  
Immediately, Roman conjured up a sign. On it were the words, " _Patrolling the Imagination_ ".

  
Aiden nodded, "Right then. Mendax?"

  
Deceit nodded his head, "I _won't_ go get them."


	3. About The Dragon Witch

"Hey guys, what's going on...?" Thomas trailed off at the sight of three dragons sitting on the couch. Of them, Logan looked absolutely done with the situation, Virgil was still clinging to Aiden, and Roman had made himself comfy on the arm of the couch.

  
"That's what we'd like to know," a voice said. The group looked over and saw the figments standing by the front door. The one in question, Remy, spoke up again, "Dax said something about dragons and spells?"

  
Deceit rolled his eyes in frustration, "If you _hadn't_ been paying attention instead of staring at your phone..."

  
Before Remy could reply, Arlo interrupted him. "The Dragon Witch turned Roman, Logan, and Virgil into dragons." He gestured to the three dragons, two of whom were back to looking at the third with sour expressions on their faces. "According to her, it's because they were trespassing on her land."

  
"So basically they ticked off Ethel," Pryce remarked, crossing his arms and looking at the three dragons.

  
The room went silent at that. Quickly, Roman conjured up a new sign. ' _SHE HAS A NAME?!_ '

  
"Of course she has a name, gurl! What, did you just think that " _Dragon Witch_ " was her name?" Remy interjected. More silence followed as Roman sheepishly looked at the ceiling. "... _Seriously_?"

  
Quickly, the prince-turned-dragon conjured up another sign, ' _HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?!_ '

  
"Alright, alright, _enough_ ," Aiden said. "Since you all apparently know the witch on a first name basis, do you know if there's any chance she'd be willing to reverse this mess?"

  
The group of figments glanced at each other, unsure looks all around. "We can try talking to her but she can be pretty stubborn sometimes," Teal answered.

  
"What if she refuses? _Then what_?" Thomas asked, looking around the room at all of them.

  
" _If_ she refuses and _if_ I can't find anything in my spell books to counter this...then we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Gunther replied. "It's the only thing we really _can_ do right now."

  
At hearing that, Logan had taken to banging his head in frustration against the couch cushion, only stopping briefly to shoot a glare at Roman. Roman at least seemed to be trying to make an effort to apologize to the other two. After seeing Logan glare at him, he pouted and turned his attention to Virgil. Virgil seemed perfectly content with staying by Aiden's side for as long as this lasted but to his credit, he at least didn't seem to mind Roman being near himself at the moment.

* * *

  
Sometime later in the Imagination the figments were making their way towards the Dragon Witch's tower. With any luck, they could talk with her rationally about this. If not...

  
"Hey, I just thought of something," Remy said, facing the group while he walked backwards.

  
"That's a miracle," Andy snarked, smirking as he heard Pryce snickering.

  
"Hey! Rude!" Remy yelled in response.

  
"Guys, come on..." Dayd said, trying to diffuse any potential arguments.

  
"What're you thinking about, Remy?" Teal asked, helping his boyfriend keep things calm.

  
"What if Ethel turns us into dragons as well?" Remy said, looking down at his phone. "Like, yeah, she knows _us_ but whose to say she's not still ticked off from earlier?" He was met with silence from the rest of them as they contemplated what he said.

  
"...As much as that would suck, I'm saying this right now-" Andy was cut off by Pryce.

  
"I swear, if you say you're going to burn something down..." Pryce gave Andy a "don't you dare" look.

  
"Good luck stopping me," Andy smirked.

  
"If he gets to burn something then I do too!" Remy added, a mischievous grin on his face.


	4. An Answer

A door creaked open, letting light filter into the dark room. In the middle was a long, winding staircase that led to the other floors of the tower. Pryce, the one who knew Ethel the best, was the first through the door, quickly followed by the others.

  
"Sheesh, how does she even see in here? There's hardly any lights!" Remy complained.

  
Andy merely rolled his eyes, "You'd be able to see better if you took off your sunglasses for once."

  
"Aw hell no, that ain't happening," Remy muttered, following the others once they began ascending the stairs. "I'll just grab onto one of you so I don't get lost."

  
At the top floor, Ethel was looking through one of her books, a cauldron bubbling nearby. She was humming a tune to herself when a knocked at the door caught her attention. With an annoyed expression, she trudged over. ' _More trespassers?_ ' Upon opening the door, she saw Pryce and his friends standing there. "Pryce? To what do I owe this visit from the lot of you?"

  
"I'm sure you know why we're here. You cast a spell on some of our friends..." Pryce said, crossing his arms.

  
"Hmm..." Ethel rubbed her chin with her claws, "Oh! The trespassers from earlier! They're your friends?"

  
"Yeah, so do ya mind changing them back gurl?" Remy asked, using his phone for a light source at the moment.

  
"Well, I _could_ ," she began, "but what fun would _that_ be? Just wait the spell out and stop being impatient."

  
"We- _wait_ , it's temporary?" Teal raised an eyebrow, "How long is it going to last?"

  
Ethel merely shrugged in response, going back to her book, "Eh, a week at most. Consider it fair - they shouldn't have been trespassing to begin with."

  
Dayd let out a frustrated sigh, "Is there any way we could convince you to change them back now - or at least shorten the duration?"

  
"Hmm...no. Just be glad I didn't make it a month," she replied. "Now, you can either stay here and let me use you all as test subjects for some new spells _or_..."

  
A shared look of minor panic spread across the group and Pryce quickly put his hands up, "No, no! We'll just be going now, dear Ethel. Come on!" With that, Pryce turned and quickly walked out of the room, the others following him and trying not to trip on the stairs. Once they were out of the tower and far away, they all took a break and slumped down against some trees.

  
"Well so much for that," Andy muttered, sitting next to Pryce.

  
"At least we know the spell isn't permanent," Teal said, leaning against Dayd.

  
"Teal's got a point there," Remy said, typing quickly on his phone. "...There! I shot a text to Dax letting him know what the deal is."

* * *

  
"Well, did they find anything out?" Thomas asked. Virgil and Roman had fallen asleep next to Aiden, curled up together. Meanwhile, Logan seemed to have taken a liking to following Arlo and Gunther around for the time being. Patton of course found both situations completely adorable and was trying his hardest to resist "aaawww"ing every few moments.

  
Deceit merely groaned in annoyance as he read the message, "According to Remy, the witch said that the spell was _not_ temporary."

  
"There's a catch," Aiden said knowingly. His statement was confirmed when Deceit nodded his head.

  
" _Incorrect._ The spell won't wear off until a week is up," Deceit answered. The two glanced over to Patton, who had gone completely silent. "Patton?"

  
"What if it's not a week?" Patton asked, surprising them with the sound of worry in his voice. "What if it isn't temporary?" Silence filled the room following his questions.

  
"Umm..." Thomas scratched the back of his head, trying to think of a way of answering the moral side.

  
Thankfully, Aiden seemed to have his own answer, "If it isn't then we confront her when the week is up and force her to change them back."


	5. Calm (Before the Storm)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as the title suggests, it's a short chapter, but for a reason.

'A week?!' Roman was holding up a new sign, looking none too pleased with this news. Virgil crossed his front legs, a similar expression on his face. As for Logan, he was resisting the urge to walk over to the nearest wall and start banging his head against it in frustration.

  
"Just be glad you won't be stuck like that for a month," Pryce answered, crossing his arms.

  
"Or forever," Remy added, not looking up from his phone.

  
Aiden shook his head in disbelief, "Gunther?"

  
"Don't worry, I've already started trying to find a counter spell in one of my books," Gunther replied, passing by them and heading for the stairs. "I'll let you all know how it's going by dinner time."

  
For the next few hours, things began to calm down. While Logan was still annoyed with Roman, he was no longer glaring at his fellow side-turned-dragon. Instead, he had taken to reading one of his Sherlock Holmes books as best he could, given that he was still getting the hang of having front legs instead of arms.

  
Virgil had finally stopped clinging to Aiden, appearing to be calm now. Instead, he was doing his best to help Patton in the kitchen. Every so often, Patton would stop briefly to "awe" at Virgil; in response, the latter would shake his head and try to direct the other side's attention back to what he was cooking. Thankfully, Arlo was also there to make sure that nothing started burning while he was distracted.

  
As for Thomas, seeing as he couldn't really film anything at the moment involving the sides, he opted to just hang around with the figments. They were currently out in the real world shooting some new short videos as a way to pass time until Gunther came back with an answer. After all, time passes much quicker when they don't think about it.

  
Roman was hanging around with Gunther in the outside world, eager to help to make up for this mistake. So far, the two have looked through three spell books and found nothing. The prince then conjured up a sign, 'How many more books do you have?'

  
Gunther glanced over the sign quickly before retrieving another book from one of the boxes stacked against a wall. "Just this one and the one on my desk. If nothing comes up then it looks like you'll just have to wait out the week."

  
At that, Roman quickly jumped up onto the desk and opened the book in question. As...interesting as being a dragon was, the prince just wanted to be turned back to normal. Unbeknownst to the two of them, the device that Arlo had found earlier seemed to activate in some way, a red light on it blinking dimly.


	6. Portal Panic

_Gunther glanced over the sign quickly before retrieving another book from one of the boxes stacked against a wall. "Just this one and the one on my desk. If nothing comes up then it looks like you'll just have to wait out the week."_

  
Someone was watching them through the device, a similar one attached to a computer monitor. It had been a crap-shoot as to where the machine would have ended up. "At least something is going right for once." The figure muttered to himself. He pulled a scrap of paper out of his pocket, looking down at the hastily written instructions.

  
Walking over to a round device just laying on the floor, he kneeled down to inspect it. "This had better work..." Carefully, he pressed a button on the side of the disc and stepped back once it activated. In moments, the disc had opened a portal and the figure reached his arms through it, grabbing Gunther and pulling him backwards.

  
The minute Gunther was on the other side, the figure heard Roman's panicked yelling coming from the other side. Gunther was also having none of this. He began struggling against his captor's hold, "Unhand me this instant!"

  
The figure grunted as he was elbowed in the stomach and did his best to brush it off. He had gotten this far, he wasn't going to let something simple stop him now. In response, the figure pinned Gunther to the wall and put his clawed hand over the demon's mouth. " _Stop_ ," the figure hissed out quietly. "Don't draw _his_ attention with your yelling."

  
Gunther growled, tempted to bite the other person's hand. However, he was stopped in his tracks once he finally got a good look at the person in question. "...Mendax?" He gasped out, shock crossing his face.  Sure enough, it was him...or at least someone who looked similar enough.

  
" _Do_ call me that," the figure muttered, letting go of him and stepping back. " _Everyone_ calls me that." Now that Gunther could get a proper look, he noted some distinct differences. The most glaring of them was the clawed left hand, a snake-like tail that deftly glided behind him, and an eye-patch over his right eye; scars peeking out from the edges.

  
Taken aback by this, Gunther could only stare at the person before him. "What in the world...?"

* * *

  
Back home, Roman had stopped panicking and with a determination flowing through him, he disappeared back into the mindscape. Quickly charging up the stairs, the dragon ran into Aiden's room and jumped up onto him. "Whoa, whoa! Easy there, Roman!" Aiden yelled, startled by him. He had just started drifting off to sleep for a nap so needless to say, he was a bit annoyed.

  
Aiden watched as Roman conjured up a sign, ' _Gunther's gone_!'

  
Furrowing his brows, his attention was fully on Roman now. "Gone? What do you mean by gone?"

  
Another sign quickly replaced the previous one, ' _A portal opened and someone reached their hands through and grabbed him!_ '

  
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Aiden muttered, nearly jumping out of his bed. He bolted out the door, Roman following him as fast as possible. Without skipping a beat, Aiden jumped from the top of the stairs to the floor, much to the dragon's amazement. Making his way to the kitchen, he stood in the doorway. "Arlo, emergency situation. We're going to Gunther's room."

  
Before any of them could react, he sunk out of the mindscape. Arlo immediately followed him without a word. Roman, Virgil, and Patton were stuck staring at each other, each with a worried expression on their faces. Soon enough, the others found themselves being summoned by Patton, all equally confused.

  
Upon appearing in Gunther's room, Aiden and Arlo noticed the portal. Whoever opened it didn't bother to close it. Whether it was on purpose or by accident, they weren't going to waste any time standing around. "Whatever this emergency is, it has to do with that thing, right?" Arlo asked, looking right at the portal.

  
Aiden nodded his head, a scowl on his face, "According to Roman? Yeah. Gunther is apparently on the other side."

  
Arlo grabbed Aiden's hand and walked towards it, worried thoughts running through his mind. "Let's go get him back then."


	7. Deceit Vs. Insanity

"Oh Daxy, where are you?" Came a disturbed sing-song voice. A feeling of dread came over Gunther as he heard the all too familiar voice... _his_ voice, back when he had been driven by pure madness. Gunther darted his eyes over towards the side before him, confusion and fear all too clear on his face. In response, Deceit swiftly made his way to the door and locked it as quietly as possible, making a hand motion for Gunther to stay silent and still.

  
A thump was heard outside in the hallway, followed by doors banging open. "I know you're here somewhere, snake! Just like I _know_ you stole one of my prized inventions!" The voice yelled out, ending in a loud growl. Just then, a loud bang was heard as the door shook. " _Aha_! Found you!" The door was repeatedly banged on as the person on the other side tried to break it down.

  
Eventually, the banging stopped and a tense silence followed. "Just wait there for me, would you?" The sing-song tone returned to the voice as he said that. "I'll have that door open soon enough."

  
Once they were sure that the person on the other side of the door was gone, Gunther whispered, "What the hell is going on here?!"

  
"That's what we'd like to kn- _Mendax_?!" The two glanced over at the still open portal. Deceit's snake eye widened in shock upon seeing Aiden and Arlo standing there. Both of them were staring at him, disbelief at what they were looking at clear as day. A sudden loud bang on the door followed by the sound of wood starting to crack startled the four of them out of their stunned silence.

  
Without a second thought, Deceit shut the device down and shoved the disc into his pants pocket. He then opened the window in the room and motioned for the other three to follow him. "I _don't_ promise I'll explain everything once we get to safety. For now, just follow me."

  
Carefully, Deceit jumped from the window to a nearby tree branch and quickly made his way to the ground. Seeing no other choice, the other three shared a look before following him. Once he was certain that the others would follow, Deceit started running as fast as he could. After some time, the four of them made it to a deserted alleyway, away from prying eyes. At the end was a door, hidden by a make-shift wall of cardboard boxes. Beyond the door were stairs that led downwards to a room with some old couches and several storage containers.

  
"Alright," Aiden began as he and the others followed Deceit, "what the hell was _that_!?"

  
"That," Deceit said, " _wasn't_ the reason I opened the portal you traveled through, the reason I _wasn't_ desperate enough to even try messing with something of that nature - Insanity." He uttered a growl, clenching his clawed hand angrily, only vaguely paying attention to the shared yell of " _what_?!" that came forth from his "guests". "...Sit. Please."

  
Reluctantly, the three sat down while Deceit double-checked the lock on the door. Crossing his arms, Aiden had a scowl on his face, "You'd better start explaining. How'd you open a portal to our home?"

  
Turning back to them, he pulled the disc out of his pocket and held it up. " This _isn't_ part of the machine you three discovered and the notes I stole along with it _aren't_ what informed me about other worlds...dimensions...whatever existing. According to the notes, the other part _isn't_ able to teleport, letting the portal work. Where it ends up seems to be a work in progress though."

  
Aiden was about to respond when Arlo put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a calming look. Turning his attention back to Deceit, he spoke, "And by either chance or fate, it ended up in Gunther's old home in the Demon Realm."

  
"Is that where it _didn't_ end up after all?" Deceit asked, sounding legitimately curious for a second. "A world of demons? Logan would've li-" Realizing the slip up, Deceit quickly shut his mouth, ' _-ked learning about them_ ,' the thought continued in his head.

  
After a few moments, Gunther finally found it in him to speak. "...You mentioned _Insanity_..."

  
Deceit visibly tensed up at the mention of that name, " _No_. That's why I brought you here."

* * *

  
"It _wasn't_ during what was supposed to be our "final battle" against Insanity," Deceit explained. "We _didn't_ almost have him down for the count. He had one more trick up his sleeve though."

  
_"Aww, you think you won?" Insanity tauntingly asked, laughing as the others surrounded him._

  
_"Silence, villain!" Roman yelled, holding his sword steadily against Insanity's throat. The was just met with more laughter from the mad scientist._

  
_"This won't end just because the lot of you kill me, you know," Insanity smirked. "I will always have a backup plan, even in death." As if on cue, the few remaining rat mutants sprung out of their hiding spots, ambushing the group. While they were distracted, Insanity turned his attention to his true target - "Thomas..."_

  
_Insanity lunged at Thomas, a deranged look in his eyes as he muttered something under his breath. However, he didn't expect Deceit to get in his way. As the doctor's claws gripped the other side's shoulders, a bright flash overtook everyone. Once it subsided, Deceit noticed that he was out in the real world as was- "Insanity!" He yelled and slammed the scientist against the nearest wall. "What the fuck did you do?! Where **aren't** the others?!"_

  
_The doctor merely tilted his head, confusion evident on his face. "Huh, I don't know - I mean,  I don't know where dear sweet Thomas is physically. Mentally, he's most likely still in the Mindscape with the others." The scientist then erupted into laughter once more, "Well, that didn't go according to plan at all! Still, thank you Daxy! Because of you getting in the way again, I'm now free to do as I please in the real world without anyone stopping me!"_

  
_Deceit growled in response, "I'm still here you fucking lunatic! And I'm **not** going to fix this!"_

  
_"That's right you're not," Insanity replied casually. In a split second, Deceit was on the ground, clutching his side as pain shot through him. In the doctor's hand was a switchblade, "You like it? I stole it from that one figment earlier while he wasn't looking."_

  
_"You son of a-" Deceit was cut off as Insanity delivered a swift kick to his side. As he doubled over in pain, he felt Insanity grip his hair and yank him up so they were face to face._

  
_"We're both gonna have so much fun again!" Insanity taunted, raising the blade so that it was eye level._

* * *

  
As he finished recounting what had happened, Deceit wrapped his cape tightly around himself, turning away from the trio. Absentmindedly, he ran his fingers over his eye patch, unaware of the wince that came from Gunther. "Since then I _haven't_ been trying to find Thomas and fight off Insanity at the same time..."

  
Arlo and Aiden were silent as they tried to comprehend the story they just heard. All the while, Gunther was staring at the floor, his shoulders hunched as he fought back the sweeping feeling of nausea.  On one hand, he wanted to utterly torment this version of himself while on the other hand, he wanted to go back home, help the others with the dragon issue, and pretend this was all a nightmare.

  
Aiden seemed to sense what Gunther was going through and put his arm around the demon's shoulders, pulling him close. Upon noticing this, Arlo wrapped an arm around Gunther's waist. In that tense moment, he was grateful towards his boyfriends and their offers of comfort. Taking a deep breath, Gunther forced himself to speak, "You know, maybe that curse from the Dragon Witch isn't so bad right now after all..."

  
Deceit looked over at them, "What curse?"

  
Aiden let out a sigh, "It's nothing anywhere near as serious as this. Just some of the others went trespassing on the Dragon Witch's territory. She got pissy and turned them into small dragons for a week."

  
Arlo, however, seemed to catch on to what Gunther was thinking. "Wait, that's it!"

  
The three looked over at him, two looking confused and one looking hopeful. "...What's it...?" Aiden trailed off uncertainly.

  
"They may be small dragons but can't dragons breathe fire? Or injure people with their horns and claws?" Arlo asked.

  
"You want to force one of our kids and two of his boyfriends into danger?" Aiden asked in disbelief. "Arlo, if I didn't know better, I'd say you're going off the deep end."

  
Gunther shook his head, "Aiden, I know what it sounds like but you know as well as I do that if one of us gets dragged into something like this, everyone else ends up following at some point or another."

  
"Even if we insist that they don't," Arlo added.

  
Aiden slumped down and sighed, "Yeah, I do know that..."


	8. Reluctant Visitor

_CRACK_

  
_BOOM_

  
Insanity panted as he stood in the doorway, having broken down the door. "Now, now, Daxy. There's no-" He stopped in his tracks as his eyes gazed upon the room's open window. Putting two and two together, he growled and kicked the debris out of his way. "Oh that little shit! Thinking he can get away from _me_?! After stealing _my_ invention on top of it all?!"

  
With a look of burning fury, Insanity turned on his heels and stomped out of the room. Quickly making his way downstairs, he stopped by the front door, something laying on the floor having caught his eye. Picking the item up, he noted that it was a framed picture of Thomas, Joan, and Talyn. Choosing to ignore the other two, he pointed right at Thomas. " _You_...I don't know where you're hiding but once I find Daxy, you're _next_."

* * *

  
With a whir, the device activated and a portal was opened. Deceit stood off to the side while his " _guests_ " stared in awe. "...You're sure this will take us right back to where we were?" Gunther asked, glancing over at him.

  
Deceit nodded his head, crossing his arms, a scowl on his face. " _Not_ positive. The coordinates haven't been changed."

  
Gunther took a deep breath, "Right, okay. Let's go then." With that, he stepped forward and walked through the portal. Arlo and Aiden looked at each other, Arlo gesturing for Aiden to go ahead of him. At Aiden's questioning look, Arlo glanced out the corners of his eyes at Deceit before looking back at him. With a glance at the two of them, Aiden walked through to join Gunther.

  
"Well, are you _not_ going or what?" Deceit asked, staring right at Arlo now.

  
"Yeah, and you're coming with me," Arlo said firmly.

  
"Wait, _wha_ -!?" Before Deceit could finish speaking, Arlo grabbed his clawed hand and pulled Deceit through the portal with him.

  
Upon arriving in Gunther's room, Deceit hissed at the sudden bright light and quickly freed his hand from Arlo's grasp. He then wrapped his cape around himself; the last thing he needed at the moment was for someone to see his claws or his tail and mistake him for a threat. ' _A monster_...' Deceit thought bitterly to himself, a scowl back on his face.

  
As if on cue, the door was opened and there stood a very confused Thomas, with some very confused sides and figments standing around in the hallway. Thomas blinked as he took in the sight of the portal and... "He...you..." Thomas stuttered, pointing between him and the other three, trying to get his thoughts in order. "...Okay, what the heck is going on?"

* * *

  
Later, the group was gathered in Thomas's living room. While Deceit explained his situation, it wasn't lost on him that they were trying not to stare at his eye patch, often catching themselves and hoping that no one else noticed. In his mind, this just reinforced his decision to keep his cape wrapped around him for as long as he possibly could. Once he was done tell his story, he looked around at the group. "Do you _not_ have any questions?"

  
Remy took a sip from his Starbucks and raised his hand, "Hmm... I got one!"

  
" _Remy_..." Andy growled as a warning towards his best friend.

  
"I'll get right to the point - what the hell happened to your eye?" Remy asked.

  
"Remy!" Andy yelled at the other figment while the rest of them looked uncomfortable to varying degrees.

  
Remy put his hands up defensively, "Hey, he asked if we had any questions!"

  
"That doesn't-!" Mendax butted in but was subsequently cut off by a sudden shout.

  
" _Enough_!" Deceit growled out. Taking a deep breath, his expression went back to his usual scowl. "If you must _not_ know - Insanity is the reason I'm without an eye. I'm sure you _can't_ guess the actual injury."

  
"Alright, alright, all of you just calm down," Thomas said worriedly, noticing that Gunther flinched when Deceit mentioned Insanity.

  
"Thomas is right, all this shouting will get us nowhere," Dayd added. He turned to look at Deceit, "Now, since it's only fair, is there anything you want to ask in return?"

  
Deceit just stared at Dayd, the smallest quirks of a smile on the corner of his mouth. "I have just one," he said. "The three dragons here - am I _not_ correct in assuming that it was Roman's fault they got cursed?" Immediately, a resounding " _yes_ " was heard from the others, including what sounded like the dragon equivalent of the word from Virgil and Logan. Roman just glanced around the room, claw on his hip as he looked offended.

  
"That actually brings up another thing," Aiden said, getting their attention. "Arlo and Gunther were throwing around ideas for a plan...and well, you explain."

  
"The idea is that we could use Virgil, Logan, and Roman's temporary dragon forms to our advantage," Gunther began.

  
"Dragons can breath fire and with Gunther's magic affecting them, they could distract Insanity as needed," Arlo finished.

  
Silence filled the room following this. Logan had a look of curiosity on his face while Roman looked eager. Virgil was the only one of the three who looked apprehensive. Noticing this, Aiden walked over to Virgil and kneeled down. "It was just an idea, lad. If you don't want to take part in it, no one is going to force you to. Right guys?" Aiden looked over at Gunther and Arlo.

  
"Of course," Arlo said, agreeing with Aiden. "We don't have to settle on just this plan, anyway." Behind him, Gunther was nodding his head. During this, Roman conjured up a sign that simply said " _I'm in!_ ", all the while Logan just shook his head in exasperation at Roman.


	9. A Decision

Out of seemingly nowhere, a portal opened up in Deceit's makeshift hideout and sure enough, it was him who stepped through, making sure that his cape was still wrapped around him. One by one, the others followed him.

  
"This...is where you've been staying?" Thomas asked, looking around the slightly cramped space.

  
"It's been getting the job done," Deceit muttered, motioning with his head for the others to sit down wherever they pleased. "That's _not_ better than nothing."

  
"He has a point," Gunther agreed, turning off the portal device. He carefully put in his pants pocket; Deceit and himself having come to the conclusion that it would be safer with him for the time being.

  
"So where was the lunatic before you hopped over to our home?" Remy asked, leaning against one of the storage crates.

  
"He _wasn't_ at the house before we made a run for it," Deceit answered. "No doubt he's on the move by now..."

  
Silence filled the air as worried glances were exchanged among the group. "...Meaning he could be anywhere outside." Andy finished for him, crossing his arms.

  
"Just like Damon," Gunther uttered, shaking his head.

  
Deceit raised an eyebrow at that, " _Damon_?"

  
"...Damon was a...former student of mine. A while ago, he caused massive trouble in a mining town. Long story short, he essentially had free reign over the place, leaving us and some friends with very few areas to hide out in while we tried to fight him," Gunther answered, scowling at the memory.

* * *

  
Elsewhere in town, a certain inhabitant of the dimension was doing just that. This dimension's Thomas sighed as he flopped down on the bed of the hotel room he was staying in. There had thankfully been no sight of Insanity when he went out searching for Deceit earlier. "Guys, we need to think of something. We can't just let Insanity run around doing who knows what in the real world and we need to find Deceit before either of them find each other." As soon as he said that, the rest of his sides, as well as the figments appeared outside of his mind. None of them were thrilled with the situation at hand and it showed.

  
"The loon's probably looking for us," this dimension's Aiden muttered. "Next time you leave, we all do. Lure him to us."

  
"That's a horribly dangerous idea," Logan said, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

  
"You got a better idea then, _Logic_?!" Aiden snapped, glaring at the other side.

  
" _Aiden_..." Arlo began, Virgil saying " _Pops_ " at the same time.

  
"No! My other kid is who the hell knows where and that lunatic is responsible for it!" Aiden yelled, marching towards the door. "He's responsible for all of this shit!"

  
"Aiden, what are you doing?" Thomas asked exasperatedly, sitting up.

  
"I'm going out to search for Insanity and my son," Aiden said, a fake calmness to his voice as he stepped out of the room. "If anyone wants to join me, now's your chance."

  
Silence filled the room as the group glanced among each other. Without a word, Arlo stood up and left the room while Virgil, after a moment of hesitation, followed despite the protests of the other sides. Quietly, the figments glanced at Andy, awaiting their leader's decision. "...Sorry Thomas, but I'm not going to sit around and hide," Andy muttered.

  
Thomas watched as the figments left as well, leaving him alone in the room with Logan, Roman, and Patton. "...What about you guys?"

  
Logan subconsciously readjusted his glasses, a nervous tic of his. "I still disagree with Aiden's method of going about this, especially since Virgil and Arlo followed him."

  
"I don't like this at all," Patton said, looking at the floor as he rubbed one of his arms. "I don't want them to get hurt but I don't want you to get hurt either..."

  
"I agree with Padre," Roman added, a conflicted look on his face. "As a prince, it's my duty to protect both them and you. I can't just choose one or the other."

  
Thomas groaned as he placed his head in his hands. ' _Why couldn't this all just be a bad dream?_ ' He knew that the decision ultimately came down to him but fear was keeping him from making the choice that he knew he needed to make. "...Hey Logan, quick question. What's the opposite of fear?"

  
Logan blinked, surprise and then confusion on his face. "The opposite of fear is courage, Thomas."

  
' _Courge... Arlo.... Wait, that's right! Arlo represents Courage_!' Thomas thought to himself. ' _And he willingly followed Aiden..._ ' As he thought this, Thomas felt the fear started to ebb away as a determined look crossed his eyes. Looking up at the three, Thomas finally made his decision.

  
" _We're going after them_."


	10. Backfired Plan

"Everything _shouldn't_ be clear," Deceit muttered, looking outside the door to his hideout. "Stay as quiet as possible, we don't need to draw any unneeded atten-ack!" He cut himself off as he closed the door quick enough to hear a thud bang against it. Opening the door again, he stepped out quickly and glanced at it. Stuck in the door was an all-too familiar switchblade and at the opening of the alley stood someone.

  
"Well look at that, Daxy! I think my experiments actually improved your reflexes!" Insanity stood there, head tilted and a twisted smirk on his face. "And you said nothing good came from them!"

  
Deceit growled in response, baring his fangs. "How _didn't_ you find me?"

  
Insanity merely raised an eyebrow, his expression never changing otherwise, and pulled out a remote-like device. Pressing one of the buttons, a light emerged and formed into a map of the city, with a flashing dot visible. "Just something I threw together after I made the portal machine. Did you really think I _wouldn't_ build a tracker into something like that?"

  
"...Called it," Aiden whispered, sneaking out the door just enough to stay in the shadows, out of Insanity's sight. He then motioned for Virgil, Roman, and Logan to follow him due to their small size working in their favor at the moment. The sides-turned-dragons scurried into position, ready to provide a distraction for the others despite Logan's and Virgil's misgivings about the plan.

  
Slowly, Insanity began walking towards Deceit, a scowl replacing his smirk. "Now then, Daxy. Be a good test subject and give me back my invention."

  
Deceit glared at him before grabbing the switchblade with his normal hand and yanking it out of the door. " _Not_ over my dead body!"

  
Insanity shrugged nonchalantly at the response, "Well, if you _insist_..."

  
" _Now_." Deceit uttered.

  
On cue, the three dragons rushed out of the shadows towards Insanity, Roman leading the charge. Catching him by surprise, Roman pierced Insanity's left leg with his horns. Although it didn't amount to much damage, it did cause the doctor to stumble backwards in surprise. A grunt came from Roman as Logan used him as a springboard, jumping towards the villain and digging his claws into Insanity's shoulders.  
Insanity growled and grabbed Logan by the horns while kicking away Roman. "The fuck kind of joke is this?! Of all things, you send hatchlings after me?!" His ranting was cut short by Virgil who, upon seeing what Insanity did to the other two sides, let out a growl of his own. Barring his teeth, he jumped as high as he could and bit down on Insanity's free hand. In turn, the doctor let out a yell and dropped Logan to the ground, turning his attention to Virgil.

  
The minute Insanity made a grab for Virgil, the dragon let go and dropped down to his feet. In an instant, Insanity was pinned to one of the walls, an arm pressing against his chest. "Worked as a distraction," Aiden muttered, smirking at the shocked expression on the doctor's face.

  
That expression quickly changed to one of fury as Insanity kicked Aiden hard enough in his left leg to loosen his grip and slip free. " _Anger_."

  
Aiden winced at the pain and glared at Insanity, "Should've expected that." Upon seeing that, Virgil ran between the two and barred his teeth at the doctor, trying to look as intimidating as possible. However, Insanity merely raised an eyebrow at the dragon and shot an unamused look over at Deceit.

  
" _Really_ , Daxy? You escape from me for a few hours and _this_ is what you find?" He gestured at Aiden and the dragons with a sneer. "How _pathetic_."

  
At those words, Roman rushed at Insanity, determined to stab him as hard as possible with his horns this time. However, Insanity was took quick and stepped out of the way, causing the dragon to crash head first into the wall instead. Sitting up in a daze, Roman rubbed his head while Logan and Virgil ran over to his side to check on him.

  
"That's enough out of you!" Aiden yelled. "Deceit!"

  
Deceit nodded his head and readied the switchblade in his hand. The minute he saw Aiden moved, he followed his lead. Both of them rushed at Insanity from either side to catch the lunatic off guard. Insanity chose to focus on Deceit at the moment and grabbed his wrist, twisting it enough to make the other side drop the blade as he yelled out in pain. However, he didn't have the upper hand for long as Aiden soon enough sucker punched him in the face, knocking him backwards.

  
Insanity spit blood out of his mouth as he regained his balance and glared. "Lucky shot but I'm just getting started."

  
" _So are we_."

  
Insanity had a brief second to look over before he found himself cornered by the rest of the group. He merely grinned when he saw them until he caught sight of Mendax and Gunther. Putting two and two together, Insanity slowly turned his head to look at Deceit. " _Oh_ , you sneaky bastard. Stole my portal machine and then used it to search for help; certainly explains the dragons and the demon."

  
Gunther let out a mental sigh of relief despite the current situation. ' _Good. My demon form is enough to keep him from realizing that I **am** him, just like it fools Deceit.'_

  
"Regardless," Insanity grinned maniacally, "I _still_ have the upper hand." As soon as he said this, he threw down a smoke bomb and used the distraction to press a different button on his remote. In an instant, a beam of light shot out from the antenna and circled the group. "And a sudden change of plans for that matter!"

  
" _What_ -?!" Deceit was cut off by Insanity's laughter.

  
"Next stop, your new homes!" Insanity yelled in a mockingly delightful tone. As if on cue, the light engulfed them all and a moment later, they were gone.

* * *

  
Insanity watched in amusement through the security cameras of his lair. His transporter had worked and dropped him and the others there. Before the group could realize what had happened, Insanity had them locked away in prison cells until further notice. "Look at them, trying to break the shackles. Quite amusing, isn't it Daxy?"

  
Insanity spun around in his chair to look over at his prisoner. Deceit was chained to a wall, shackles around his ankles, wrists, and tail to prevent him from escaping. In response, Deceit growled out a string of curses at the doctor.

  
Rolling his eyes, the doctor got up and walked over to him. Gripping the other side's chin, he forced Deceit to look him directly in the eyes. "Come now, Daxy. Be a good monster and admit the _truth_. Admit that if weren't for _you_ , they wouldn't be in this mess."

  
Deceit went for a different option, spitting in Insanity's face. Insanity let go of him and stepped back, looking offended by that. "How... _unsanitary_ ," the doctor muttered, wiping his face off with his glove. " _Don't_ make me take out your other eye."

  
At that threat, Deceit visibly paled as Insanity walked past him and out of the room.

  
"...This is all my fault..."


	11. Interrogation - Part 1

Thomas looked up as he heard his cell door slide open. Standing there was the cause of all this trouble - Insanity. The doctor walked over to him, the dim light illuminated his face in an almost eerie glow. Insanity merely stared down at him, a scowl on his face.

  
" _Thomas_."

  
" _Insanity_."

  
Crossing his arms, Insanity tilted his head and stared at Thomas with a glint of curiosity in his eyes. "You're not afraid of me, are you?"

  
"No, I'm _not_ ," Thomas answered firmly, no hint of uncertainty or lying in his voice. Instead, he just stared straight at Insanity.

  
"Heh, what, do I not exist in your dimension? Is that why you're not shaking with fear?" Insanity asked, leaning against the wall. "In that case, I'll show you exactly why you _should_."

  
Thomas merely raised an eyebrow, an idea coming to mind. ' _I hope Gunther will understand my reasoning behind this later._ ' "Oh, he exists alright. I just have no reason to fear him anymore. If anything, _you_ should be fearing him."

  
At that, Insanity growled and knelt down so he was eye level with Thomas. " _Excuse me_?" He snapped out.

  
"You heard me," Thomas kept calm, "you really think he's going to take kindly to you threatening me or the others? Ever heard of the whole " _I'm the only one allowed to destroy you"_ thing?"

  
"Is that so?" Insanity asked sarcastically. "Where is he then? I didn't see him among your little brigade and I highly doubt he wouldn't have come out from your tiny mind by now in that case."

  
"If you're so smart then figure it out yourself," Thomas answered just as sarcastically, already fed up with the lunatic.

  
Thomas's remark was met with Insanity grabbing his throat and slamming him back against the wall. As Thomas let out a shout, Insanity leaned in and whispered in his ear. "I fully intend to and then I'll be back. Maybe I'll even be gracious enough to let his _corpse_ keep you company in here."

* * *

  
" _Anger_."

  
Aiden growled and fought against the reinforced shackles that were keeping him trapped in place. "These fucking things can't hold me forever! When I get out of here-!" His threat was cut off by a hard punch to the face.

  
"That was for earlier," Insanity muttered, watching with amusement as Aiden spit out blood.

  
"You son of a-!" He was once again cut off, this time by searing pain in his left shoulder. Insanity took his time removing the knife he had brought with him. "Argh..."

  
"Now then," Insanity said, "since you seem oh so talkative right now, I have a question for you."

  
"Go to hell..." Aiden gasped out defiantly.

  
"The devil's afraid that I'll take over," Insanity snarked. As a warning, he trailed the flat side of the blade along Aiden's other shoulder. "Where is your dimension's version of me?"

  
Aiden frozen in place as his mind flashed to Gunther and what Insanity could possibly want from him. Thinking quick, he uttered out a lie. "He's _dead_. Just like _you_ will be." In response, Insanity stabbed his other shoulder and left the knife in the wound for now.

  
"As delightful as your screams of pain are, I don't want to drag this out longer than I have to," Insanity said, rolling his eyes. " _Now_. Tell me where he is!"

  
"I already told-!" Another scream was torn from Aiden as Insanity suddenly ripped the knife out. He then felt a hand around his throat as Insanity held the bloody knife up to his face.

  
" _Stop_. _Lying_." Insanity ground out, staring into his eyes. " _Thomas_ already told me that he was still around."

  
The other side's eyes widen in a mixture of concern and rage. Struggling against Insanity's hand as best he could, he gasped out, "So help me, if you hurt him...!" He started gagging as the grip on his throat started to tighten.

  
"Believe me, if you don't start cooperating then you and him won't be the only ones suffering," Insanity threatened. "Oh, I know! How about I keep strangling you until you either pass out or you fucking _answer me_!? If you don't answer me, then I'll just do the _same. exact. thing._ to your family until one of them tells me what I want to know!"

  
Aiden continued his futile struggling. All the while, Insanity was getting enjoyment out of the current situation. "You-" Aiden choked out desperately. " _You_ -!"

  
Insanity smirked and leaned in close to Aiden, "And you know what? I think I'll start by interrogating _Arlo_." The doctor punctuated this by laughing maniacally, taking in the sight of Aiden finally losing consciousness.

  
"Nighty night, _Aiden_!"

* * *

  
Back at the other Thomas's home, his group had finally made it back. Shoving the front door open, they took in the sight around them. It looked like a tornado had swept through the house, clear signs of more than one struggle having taken place there.

  
"Insanity really did this...?" the other Thomas asked, disbelief clear on his face. " _How_...?"

  
"By fighting with Deceit, no doubt," Logan stated, carefully stepping past some broken glass. "The important question is - where are they?"

  
Thomas blinked in surprise, "Hey yeah! This place is too quiet for them to still be here!"

  
"Great, just fucking great," Aiden muttered. "We're right back where we started then!"

  
"Literally," Virgil added under his breath, fidgeting nervously with the sleeves of his hoodie. Seeing their home reduced to such a bad state put him on edge. Add Insanity roaming freely and he wasn't fairing too well at the moment. This was lessened only slightly by Roman placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. On the other side of him, Patton did his best to give Virgil a reassuring smile that everything would be okay.

  
"...So what do you suggest our next course of action should be, Thomas?" Logan asked, glancing briefly at Virgil with concern.

  
Thomas took a bit of time to try and think rationally, despite feeling the same dread that Virgil was. "I..." A heavy feeling was starting to settle in his chest, making it harder to breath properly. Following the breathing exercise Virgil had taught him, after a few attempts Thomas tried to speak again. " _Alright_ , here's the plan. We'll split the group in half." He then held his hand up, silencing the questions that started to be thrown around. "I know we're all on edge but please, let me finish. With two groups instead of one, we'll be able to cover more ground that way. I know that Insanity and Deceit could be anywhere but I don't think either of them would have left the city; they have no reason to."

  
Silence hung in the room as everyone contemplated the current plan of action. It wasn't the best plan, but they did have a higher chance of finding the other two. Slowly, they all spoke up, voicing their agreement. Thomas let out a sigh as they did so. ' _Please, please, let this plan work._ '


	12. Interrogation - Part 2

"Arrrrloooo," a sing-song voice caught the side's attention. He looked up and saw Insanity standing in the doorway, smiling menacingly. Arlo simply glared at him in turn and kept quiet. "Oh come now, don't act that way," Insanity said, wiping his knife off with a hand towel. "Make things easier for the both of us."

  
Once more, Insanity was met with silence. Rolling his eyes, the doctor walked over to Arlo and knelt down to look him in the eyes. "You're really going to be stubborn? Aiden did the same thing and guess how well _that_ worked out for him." At that, Arlo began to fight against the shackles keeping him trapped. All the while, Insanity stayed just out of reach, a smirk on his face.

  
"When I get out of here-!" Arlo's threat was cut off by the doctor.

  
"Change _when_ to _if_. You're in no position to be making threats against me," Insanity replied non-nonchalantly, holding the knife up to the side of Arlo's face. "Now, if you don't want me to stab you, you _will_ answer my question."

  
"Depends on the question. I'm not even from this dimension, _remember_?" Arlo snarked, a scowl on his face.

  
"Hmph. That relates exactly to what I was going to ask," Insanity muttered. "Where is your dimension's version of me?"

  
" _What_?" Arlo was taken aback by the seemingly out of nowhere question.

  
"You heard me. _Where. Is. He_?" Insanity demanded, eyeing Arlo suspiciously.

  
Visions of Gunther and Aiden flashed through Arlo's mind. Going off what the lunatic before him said, Aiden was already injured. ' _And now he's after Gunther..._ ' Instead of responding, Arlo struggled against the shackles once more. However, this was stopped once a stabbing pain shot through one of his shoulders.

  
"I _warned_ you," Insanity growled, pulling the knife out of the wound. "And _don't_ even try to say he's dead or some shit like that! Your boyfriend already beat you to that answer and _Thomas's_ answer contradicts that entirely."

  
' _What?! Why would Thomas...that doesn't make any sense!_ ' Arlo glared at Insanity, hate for this utterly despicable version of Gunther burning in his eyes. "What the hell did Thomas say?!"

  
Insanity blinked, take aback briefly by this sudden outburst. "Well well, wasn't expecting _that_ kind of reaction from _you_."

  
"Answer me!" Arlo demanded. However, Insanity just ' _tsked_ ' and edged the knife towards him.

  
" _I'm_ the one who's asking the questions around here," Insanity said, "and I expect answers."

  
Arlo stared up at the ceiling before slowly looking back at Insanity. "...He'll kill you, ya know. I'd forget about finding him if I were you."

  
A smirk once more crossed Insanity's face, "I'd like to see him try. Now, be a good prisoner and just tell me where he is. You do that and I'll leave you and the others alone... _for now_."

  
" _...Fuck off_."

* * *

  
If there was ever a time for Roman's stubbornness to be useful, it was now. When Insanity had tried to shackle the dragon to the wall, he responded in turn by breathing fire at the scientist. Every time he came near, he was met with more and more fire. Eventually, Insanity had enough and left him alone, the cell bars being the only thing truly keeping him trapped.

  
At least they were until a few moments ago. Roman smirked triumphantly as his fire breath finally melted the bars away. ' _About time! I might actually have to thank the Dragon Witch when this is all over._ ' He peaked out and around the hall to make sure the coast was clear. Upon confirming it, Roman ran out of the cell and charged down the hall, as fast as he could.

  
After constant turning around corners and finding nothing but empty cells, Roman skid to a stop and hid behind one of the walls. Taking care not to be seen, Roman looked down the hallway only to see Insanity standing there. Once Insanity walked into one of the cells, the prince quietly made his way over as fast as possible.

  
"Let's cut right to the chase, Patton," Insanity said, knife in hand. "I'm looking for your dimension's version of me. Where is he?"

  
Roman growled lowly and carefully crept into the cell behind Insanity, the shadows helping to conceal him. ' _No one messes with my family..._ '

  
" _W-what_?" Patton stuttered out, not at all expecting the question. Once he caught a glimpse of the knife, he grew pale.

  
"I already got confirmation from Thomas and Arlo that he's still around and quite frankly, my patience is starting to wear thin. Now _answer the question_ ," Insanity demanded, his grip on the weapon tightening.  
However, before Insanity could do anything, Roman charged at him as hard as he could. With a clang, the knife fell to the floor while Insanity stumbled forward. As he turned around, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "How the fuck did you escape?!"

  
In response, Roman jumped between him and Patton, growling at the scientist. "Roman, be careful!" Patton yelled, fear in his eyes.

  
" _That's_ -?!" Insanity let out a maniacal laugh, "What, did you get cursed by a witch or something, " _Prince_ " Roman?!"

  
' _Oh fuck him,_ ' Roman thought to himself. It was then that something shiny caught his attention. From what he could see, it was a key attached to a thin rope-necklace around Insanity's neck. Thinking quickly, Roman jumped at Insanity, knocking him to the ground. While Insanity had the wind knocked out of him, the dragon swiped at the rope with his claws, slicing right through it.

  
Coming back to his senses, Insanity aimed a punch at Roman's face. However, the dragon was too quick for him and ducked out of the way. Breathing fire to hold him back for the moment, Roman slid the key over to Patton and focused on distracting the scientist.

  
As soon as he saw the key, Patton's eyes lit up with hope. Grabbing the key, his hopes were correct when he managed to unlock one of the shackles. Quickly enough, Patton freed himself and pocketed the key for safe keeping. Once Patton stood up, Insanity reached for his own neck, only to look down in confusion. "The key?! Where is-?!" He stopped mid sentence once he put two and two together.

  
Roman met Insanity's look of rage with a confident smirk. Using his tail, he motioned for Patton to get out of there. Slowly, he backed out as well, breathing fire every so often to keep Insanity at bay. Although he couldn't lock the cell door without a key card, he still made sure to close it; a few extra seconds on their side was better than none. With one more breath of fire, Roman turned and charged after Patton, both of them running as fast as they could towards what they hoped would eventually be a place to hide.


	13. An Escape

Deceit gazed around the room as he gave a lifeless tug against one of the shackles keeping him trapped. "Fuck," he muttered, tilting his head back to look at the ceiling. He didn't know how long he'd been trapped nor how long Insanity had been gone. What he did know was that this was his fault and that he needed to fix things.

  
"Come on, _don't_ focus," Deceit said to himself. Taking a deep breath, he focused his strength and pulled against the shackles as hard as he could. Once, twice, and no change. On the third pull, he heard a cracking noise. "Come on, come on!" With one more pull, Deceit broke free of the shackles and stumbled forward, catching himself on a couple of empty crates scattered around the room. Upon realizing he was free, Deceit grinned triumphantly, tail swishing around happily.

  
However, his grin was quickly replaced with a scowl. While he was free, he still needed to go rescue the others. Searching around the room for anything useful, he found nothing but piles of machine parts and more crates. "Of course, that _wouldn't_ be my luck," Deceit said, shaking his head. Heading over to the door, something shiny on the floor caught his eye. Moving some of the crates out of the way, he picked two small " _watches_ " up. "Better than nothing, I _don't_ suppose." Shoving them into his pants pocket, he went out into the hall and began to make his way through it as quickly and quietly possible.

* * *

  
Patton and Roman found an empty supply closet to hide in. Carefully, Patton sat down against the door while Roman was pacing around. ' _Come on, think Roman, think! You've rescued Patton and managed to get this far!_ ' Roman thought to himself, unaware of the concerned look Patton was giving him.

  
"Ro?" Patton asked, reaching a hand out to the dragon.

  
' _I already screwed up by getting Virgil, Logan, and myself turned into dragons!_ ' Roman continued pacing, ' _I can't make another mistake; not in this kind of situation!_ '

  
Gently, Patton placed his hand on Roman's head, stopping the dragon in place. Quietly, he called out to Roman again, "Roman?"

  
Roman looked over at him and quickly conjured up sign, ' _Yes Padre?_ '

  
"Are you alright? How'd you even escape your cell?" Patton asked, softly scratching the scales on the dragon's head. A small smile cross his face as Roman closed his eyes and leaned into his hand.

  
To his own surprise, Roman found the scratching to be calming. ' _No wonder Dax doesn't mind having his scales scratched_ ,' the dragon thought to himself. Concentrating long enough to conjure up a new sign, it read _'Melted the bars with flame breath._ ' At the look of shock and awe on Patton's face, Roman held up another sign, ' _We need to rescue the others without getting caught again._ '

  
It was then that they heard the door handle turn and panic swept through the two of them. Patton hurriedly got up and pushed with all his strength against the door to keep it from opening. Roman, on the other hand, was mentally cursing the form he was stuck in. If he were human again, he could easily help Patton keep whoever was on the other side out. Case in point, after a few moments of silence, the door was forcefully shoved open and Patton stumbled back.

  
"There better _not_ be something use-" Deceit stopped mid-sentence as he stared at the two before him. Roman and Patton stared right back at him, surprise on their faces that one of the others was free as well. Surprise turned to shock as they got a good look at Deceit, without his cape wrapped around himself.

  
"I... _Dee_...?" Patton reached out towards him carefully but was cut off by Deceit turning swiftly on his heels.

  
Unconsciously, Deceit clenched his clawed hand as his tail swished back and forth angrily. "Not a word. _Don't_ hurry up and follow me before Insanity finds any of us." With that, Deceit took off running down one of the halls. Left with no other choice at the moment, the two followed him as fast as possible.

  
"Where are we going?! What about the others?!" Patton called out to Deceit.

  
"There's an emergency exit down one of the halls! The plan _isn't_ this - you two will escape and I'll go see if I can free any of the others!" Deceit yelled back, turning down one of the hallways.

  
"But what about you?!" Patton shouted back, concern evident.

  
Deceit stopped running once he made it to the end of the hallway, the other two following suit. At the end was a rusty door that clearly saw better days. Shoving it open, the night sky greeted him. "I've spent this long giving Insanity the old runaround, what _isn't_ a few more times?"

  
" _But_ -?" Patton's protests were stopped by Deceit raising his gloved hand up.

  
Carefully, Deceit pulled one of the " _watches_ " and handed it to Patton. "Here. It's _not_ a communicator, no doubt one of Insanity's inventions." He then took the other one out and placed it on his own wrist, under his glove. "Now, get out of here. Both of you."

  
Patton and Roman glanced at each other, still unsure about this. However, they reluctantly went outside and as Deceit closed the door, they heard him speak.

  
"Sorry for _not_ dragging the lot of you into this mess. I swear on my life that I'll get you all back home safe though."

  
With that, the door was closed, leaving them with one of two options at the moment. They could either try to find the alleyway that led to Deceit's hideout or try to get to this dimension's version of their home.


	14. Chaos

Patton and Roman had decided that the best course of action would be to stop at Deceit's hideout first and then head to the house. After all, they remembered that some crates took up most of the space in the hideout. Surely there had to be something useful in one of them...

  
What they weren't expecting was to be cornered in the alley while they were trying to get the door open.

  
"Turn around," a gruff but still familiar voice demanded. Nervously, the two glanced at each other before turning around to face the person in question. Standing before them, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face, was this dimension's version of Aiden. "It might be dark out but I can still spot an imposter when I see one, especially with a mythical creature by your side."

  
"I-I know what it looks like," Patton said, holding both of his hands up defensively, "but I'm not an imposter. W-will you let us explain what's going on, _Aiden_?" Patton offered a nervous but friendly smile, hoping that this version of his friend would be willing to listen.

  
Instead of answering, this version of Aiden walked past the two and knelt down in front of the door. Carefully, he picked up the switchblade that had been left behind earlier. "Andy's been lookin' for this," he muttered. Pocketing the weapon, he stood up and looked at the two standing before him. "...I'll let you explain - _only_ after we get back to the house; the others will want to hear what you have to say. Follow me."

* * *

  
Insanity stomped towards the room that held Deceit prisoner. "If Patton and and Roman think they can hide from me in my own fucking lair, they are sorely mistaken." Slamming the door open, his eyes were set on the security feeds, unaware that the room was otherwise empty. Sitting down in his chair, he proceeded with the task at hand.

  
"Alright, let's see where the mice could be," Insanity muttered. One by one, he checked the other cells in case they tried to free the others. Aiden and Arlo were still unconscious while Logan and Virgil were still in their cells. "Hmph. Looks like the other two dragons didn't get the same idea that Roman did - _good_." Everyone else were either trying to sleep as best they could in their current conditions or they were still futilely trying to escape their shackles.

  
Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he then began searching through the halls. "What the-?!" The sight of a scaled tail slipping around a corner caught his eye. Looking at the next camera feed, he saw Deceit dash by. Insanity spun around in his chair to look at where Deceit should have been - only to find broken shackles lying about.

  
"Oh that son of a bitch! When I get my hands on him-!" Insanity got up and stormed out of the room, determined to hunt down Deceit.

* * *

  
With a growl and one more rough tug, a rattling noise was heard as a set of shackles fell to the ground. Scowling, Gunther rubbed at his wrists and looked up as he heard footsteps coming closer. "What the-?"  
Deceit stopped in his tracks as he heard Gunther speak and turned to look into his cell. "Demon guy...uh, Gunther, _incorrect_? ...You freed yourself!?"

  
Gunther nodded his head, "It took longer than I would have liked but yes...well, other that opening the cell door, of course. How long have you been free?"

  
"Not so much " _free_ " compared to an extended game of cat and mouse with the doc," Deceit muttered. "He _doesn't_ have a key card to open the cells."

  
Gunther raised an eyebrow at that, "What about the shackles?"

  
Quickly, Deceit pulled a key out of his pants pocket and held it up. "Patton and Roman swiped this from Insanity and gave it to me before I helped them escape this place. If I can steal the key card, then freeing the others _will_ be a problem."

  
Gunther stared at him dumbstruck, "Those two _escaped_...?" He shook his head as he heard Insanity yelling Deceit's name in the distance. "Hold that thought, I have an idea. Give me that key."

  
Glancing down the hall and then back at Gunther, Deceit handed the key to him. "Mind _not_ telling me what your idea is before he shows up?"

  
Gunther nodded, "Simple - we work together to distract him long enough for you to nab that key card. Once you do, unlock the door and give me the card. Lead him on a wild goose chase long enough for me to free the others."

  
Deceit sighed, "It's _not_ as good a plan as any, I suppose."

* * *

  
"Alright, let me get this straight," this dimension's Thomas sighed as he heard snickering from some of the others, "you're from another dimension? And the reason you're here is because Deceit - _our_ Deceit - stole one of Insanity's inventions?"

  
"That's how we _got here_ , Thomas," Patton answered. "The reason we're here is because...well...Deceit was desperate for any kind of help."

  
"But desperate enough to utilize a device he knew next to nothing about in hopes that he'd succeed?" This dimension's Logan looked skeptical at the thought, "That's...highly improbable."

  
An uncharacteristic frown crossed Patton's face, causing Roman and several of the others to glance at him worriedly. "The last time you saw Deceit was right as he and Insanity disappeared from the mindscape?"

  
"Yeah," Aiden confirmed. "... _Why_? Did Insanity do something to him?!"

  
Roman quietly made his way to stand in front of Patton, placing some distance between him and Aiden. "...Unfortunately, he did," Patton finally answered, bracing himself for the forthcoming angry outburst.

  
At that, Aiden jumped up from the chair he was sitting on, startling almost everyone, "That fucking bastard! What the hell did he _do_?!"

  
Arlo, to his credit, was physically holding Aiden back from doing anything rash. That's not to say that he wasn't ticked off as well. He was merely keeping it contained for Aiden's sake.

  
"I..." Patton trailed off, remembering how Deceit reacted to Roman and himself seeing his claws and tail. "...It's something that he would have to show you, on his terms."

  
"And yet he showed _you_!?" Aiden demanded to know.

  
"That was actually _accidental_..." Patton answered truthfully.

  
Aiden took a deep breath before speaking again, " _I see_."

  
"Pops..." Virgil began but stopped when Aiden held up his hand.

  
"I got no further questions other than this - can you take us to where Deceit and Insanity are?" Aiden asked, looking directly at Patton. He sighed as Patton nodded his head, " _Good_."

  
"I suppose we should get ready to go then," Thomas muttered, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. "I have a question though. Why is there a _dragon_ with you?"

  
A small amused smile crossed Patton's face as Roman looked annoyed at being reminded of his current state. "That's Roman."

  
A stunned silence filled the room before this dimension's Roman yelled, "My counterpart is a baby dragon?!"

  
Roman rolled his eyes and conjured up a sign, " _Temporary curse from the Dragon Witch_."

  
Thomas blinked as he read the sign, "Well, that's...something. Is there anything else odd that we should know about?"

  
Despite Roman giving Patton a ' _don't you dar_ e' look, the moral side answered the question. "Roman's antics got Logan and Virgil hit by the same curse."

  
" _What?!_ "


	15. Half-way Freed

"Get back here!" Insanity yelled, throwing a knife at Deceit. Deceit dodge-rolled out of the way and stared him down.

  
"Right, because throwing a weapon at me is definitely _not_ counterproductive," Deceit snarked. "Pure genius."

  
Growling, Insanity lunged at the other dark side. However, Deceit thought quickly and used his tail to trip the scientist up. Deceit watched with a satisfied smirk as Insanity crashed to the ground, curses falling from his mouth. Jumping back to his feet, Insanity glared at Deceit in response. "You're just _asking_ me to wipe that look off your face."

* * *

  
While Deceit was keeping Insanity distracted, Gunther made his way through the halls. Following him were Virgil and Logan, the two dragons acting as lookouts in case Insanity tried to get the jump on them.

"This place is like a damn maze," Gunther growled out, turning a corner.

  
A pained groan from down the hall spurred him to run faster, Virgil and Logan charging after him. Reaching the cell, Gunther looked inside briefly before using the keycard to unlock the door. As soon as the door was opened, Virgil rushed inside, having seen for himself who was in there.

  
Aiden blinked as he felt something pawing at his leg carefully. Looking down, it took him a moment to realize that it was Virgil. " _Virge_? Lad? How'd you-?"

  
Gunther walked over and kneeled down next to him, essentially cutting him off mid-sentence. "I'll explain later. ...What _happened_ to you?" He asked as he began to unlock the shackles, freeing Aiden.

  
"The bastard was trying to find out where you were," Aiden muttered, rubbing his throat absentmindedly. "...So yeah, if he can't recognize you in demon form..."

  
"Then he actually _is_ a side and not a fellow demon," Gunther finished for him. Carefully, he helped Aiden to his feet. "Are you sure you're okay to walk?"

  
Aiden nodded his head, wincing at the pain from his shoulder wounds. "Yeah, may have lost some blood but I'm not feeling dizzy or anything." He then glanced down at the two dragons. Virgil was standing as close as he could to him while Logan looked like he was lost in thought. "...Logan, you still with us?"

  
At the call of his name, Logan snapped back to reality. Staring at the other side, he conjured up a sign. " _If that is the case, how would Insanity even know for certain that he exists in our dimension?_ "

  
A scowl crossed Aiden's face at that while Gunther glanced at him. "Thomas told him so."

* * *

  
Arlo was looking around his cell as he caught his breath. He had finally broken free of the shackles but he ended up using more energy than he expected. Letting out a low groan as pain from his wounds shot through him, he slumped down to the ground. For now, he was content to take a break before working on destroying the cell bars.

  
This break wasn't meant to last though, as soon enough he heard several sets of footsteps coming down the halls. ' _I swear, if that's Insanity again..._ ' With a frustrated grunt, Arlo forced himself to stand up and walked over, peering out of the cell. The next thing he knew, there was a flash of a white lab coat before the cell door slid open.

  
At that, Arlo jumped back a bit, startled by the sudden presence. As soon as he recognized who it was, his body untensed. " _Gunther_?!"

  
Gunther's eyes widened as he took in the sight of Arlo. Arlo had similar shoulder injuries compared to Aiden and although it was obscured by his scarf, he was sure he saw a couple bruises on Arlo's neck. He wasn't the only one who noticed this as the next thing either of them knew, Aiden rushed over to Arlo.

  
" _Arlo_?! Are you alright?!" Aiden asked, a panicked tone to his voice as he carefully put his hands on top of Arlo's shoulders.

  
Arlo could only nod as he wrapped an arm around Aiden's waist. "I... _yeah_. Are the others free too?" With his other arm, he motioned for Gunther to join them. As soon as he did, he was pulled into the hug. All of them felt a wave of relief as they were finally reunited. From outside the cell, Logan and Virgil watched them, both silently hoping that they'd be reunited with Roman, Patton, and Mendax soon enough.

  
While the seconds ticked by, Arlo was answered by Aiden. "Some of them are, we're going through this place and freeing everyone else."

  
Concern flashed across Arlo's face, "What about Insanity? He was trying to track Gunther down."

  
A scowl formed on the demon's face, "So I heard. Deceit is keeping him distracted for now."

  
Aiden shot both of them a reassuring look, despite his own concern about the situation, "He'll get what's coming to him. Come on, we got the rest of our family to save."


	16. I Am...

Insanity dodged out of the way of Deceit's tail. The lying side was clearly getting the hang of using the modifications the doctor made to his advantage. In a small way, Insanity felt proud at that fact, proud that his experiments were paying off. Mostly though, he was pissed off that the results were being used against him rather than for him, like he initially intended.

  
Seeing an opportunity, Insanity stomped down on Deceit's tail as hard as possible. When the other side let out a yell, Insanity smirked and pressed his foot down harder. "Now now, Daxy, what did you think would happen? Maybe once you finally join me, I'll see about making some tail armor for you," Insanity taunted.

  
"I'll never fucking join you," Deceit growled, twisting around and grabbing Insanity by the front of his lab coat.

  
"What are you-?" Before Insanity could finish, Deceit flung him as hard as he could into a wall. Insanity let out a groan as he made contact, pain shooting through his back as he sunk to the floor, head first. "Bastard," the scientist muttered as he got up, shaking his head.

  
Quickly, he ducked out of the way of a punch, Deceit's clawed hand hitting the wall instead. Taking a chance, Insanity punched Deceit in the stomach as hard as he could, causing the lying side to double over and gasp for breath. In a fit of rage, he followed this up by lunging at Deceit, knocking him on his back while Insanity kept him pinned down. "Now be a good little _monster_ and _go to sleep_!"

  
Before Deceit could react, he felt something jab him in the side of the neck. Pain shot through his neck before it started to become numb. " _What_ -?" Deceit's vision started to blur and he could vaguely make out Insanity holding a syringe in his hand. Under normal circumstances, he would be fighting back desperately but everything seemed to slow down to a standstill as he felt himself become woozy.

  
"Tranquilizer. Not enough to kill you but definitely enough to keep you out of my way for a while," Insanity said, smirking as Deceit's eyes closed and his head fell back against the floor.

  
"Now, to see about summoning my old rat " _friends_ ". After all, even _I_ must admit when I need help..."

* * *

  
"This is the place?" D3 Thomas asked, looking up at the building before them. At first glance, it looked like nothing more than an abandoned warehouse near the outskirts of the city. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that someone had taken up residency in it, and was currently working on expanding it. If he were to be honest at the moment, the whole place gave him the creeps, especially knowing who was in there.

  
"Yeah, it is." D1 Patton gave a hesitant nod. Despite his own misgivings about being back there, he wasn't going to let that stop him from rescuing his family. "Roman...?"

  
D1 Roman nodded and led them to the left side of the building, where he remembered the exit being. Sure enough, the rusted door came into view, as if beckoning to them to enter. As they walked closer and closer, the door suddenly burst open, startling the group. D3 Roman and D3 Pryce both hand their swords out immediately to handle the threat.

  
However, this proved unnecessary at the moment as out of the door charged a purple dragon along with a dark blue dragon that clinging to his tail as he ran. Said dragons ended up crashing right into D1 Roman, leaving him at the bottom of a pile, looking annoyed. Meanwhile, the purple one shook his head while the dark blue one readjusted his glasses.

  
"Virgil?! Logan?!" D1 Patton asked, getting the attention of both dragons. Once they realized who they were sitting on top of, they scrambled off, letting Roman get up with a huff.

  
The D3 group merely stared in shock. It was D3 Arlo that spoke up, "They really were turned into dragons..."

  
" _Now do you really believe us?_ " D1 Roman held up a sign.

  
D3 Thomas then spoke up for the group, "You know what? Yeah, yeah we do. It's no less crazy than anything Insanity's done so..."

  
At that moment, something else flew out of the door. A humanoid-rat hit the ground with a hard thud, a pool of blood spreading out around its body. The group, minus D1 Virgil and D1 Logan, paled at the sight of the creature. "T-that's one of-! _How_ -?!" D3 Virgil was at a loss for words at the sight of one of Insanity's rat hybrids out and about in the real world.

  
"Simple," a voice said, "he summoned them. They're too idiotic to be able to leave the mindscape by their own doing." Standing in the doorway was Gunther, a grim expression on his face.

  
"...Okay, _who_ the hell is _that_?" D3 Remy asked. "And why does he have...what are those, gurl? _Cat ears_ or something?"

  
One of the aforementioned ears twitched slightly in annoyance as Gunther spoke, "My name's Gunther, I'm a demon, anything else you want to know will be answered after we group up with the others inside." With that he turned on his heels and began walking down the hall, "Make sure you keep the door open!"

  
Following Gunther was D1 Patton, the dragons, and finally the D3 group. "Gunther, what's going on? Where are the others?" D1 Patton asked worriedly.

  
"The others are in the security room. While Deceit was keeping Insanity busy, we sneaked in there," Gunther said, leading them down what seemed like endless hallways. "Teal hacked into the main computer and deactivated everything. All the prison cells and blocked off areas are unlocked. This place is literally a free-for-all right now."

  
D3 Aiden's eyes narrowed, "You let him deal with that lunatic by himself?!"

  
"...If anything has happened to him during that time then I will take full responsibility for it," Gunther answered firmly, not looking back. A tense silence fell over them until they finally reached a door at the end of one of the halls. Gunther knocked on the door quickly, "Guys, it's me!"

  
Noise was heard from the other side, the sound of boxes being moved no doubt. When the door opened, Gunther walked through with the others. Another silence fell as both groups took in the sight of their counterparts.

* * *

  
Everyone was sitting around, all having questions but not knowing where to start. That was the case until everyone's attention was grabbed by a sudden glowing light surrounding the three dragons. "The hell!?" D1 Aiden asked aloud.

  
A bright flash forced the others to look away and as it died down, there were no longer any dragons there. Instead, there were three very relieved looking sides. "...Oh _finally_!" D1 Roman said, looking down at himself before looking over at D1 Virgil and D1 Logan.

  
"Indeed. That predicament was quite annoying," D1 Logan muttered.

  
"Ye-Ow! What was that for!?" D1 Roman yelled, holding his arm as he shot an offended look at D1 Virgil.

  
"For getting us in that mess the first place," D1 Virgil answered, rubbing his fist. "And quit being so over dramatic, I barely touched you."

  
Sensing a potential argument, D1 Thomas sighed, "Both of you - _enough_."

  
Once it was certain that the two wouldn't start fighting, D1 Aiden looked over at D1 Thomas. "Tom. Question."

  
D1 Thomas blinked and looked at him, "Yeah...?"

  
D1 Aiden was silent for a moment, a sign that set both D1 Virgil and Mendax on edge.

  
"Pops-" both of them said at the same time, only to be cut off.

  
"What the hell were you thinking earlier?!" D1 Aiden demanded to know, standing up from the chair he was sitting in. "Why the hell did you tell Insanity that he even has a counterpart?!"

  
D1 Thomas was caught off guard by the questions and the rage behind them. "...I... _Arlo_...?" D1 Thomas looked at the other side, hoping he would calm D1 Aiden down. However, to his shock and the others' surprise, Arlo was glaring at him.

  
" _No_. I want to know as well," Arlo said, crossing his arms.

  
"I...uh...alright, alright," D1 Thomas said, putting his hands up. "Just...calm down? I had a plan and...it didn't exactly work out."

  
"...And what kind of plan was that?" Gunther asked, refusing to let his nervousness come to the surface.

  
"I...I'm _sorry_ Gunther" D1 Thomas sighed as he looked over at Gunther. "The plan was that...well, you're a demon and the only one of us he didn't recognize _so_... So, I figured that if I told him what I did, he'd try to question you first, you know? Just kind of him assuming that you'd be more likely to work with him in exchange for being freed. And knowing you, if you _were_ freed-"

  
Gunther stopped him mid-sentence, "then I would have taken the chance to kick the daylights out of him."

  
D1 Thomas nodded, "...Yeah, basically."

  
"...I'm not going to deny it - that was an _utterly stupid_ plan to go with without telling any of us," Gunther said, scowling. "But, if he had gone to see me first, it would have worked. So...there's _that_ I suppose."

  
"So wait..." D3 Thomas said, " _does_ Insanity have a counterpart from your dimension?"

  
All of the D1 group stared among each other, not wanting to be the one to answer that. After all, it wasn't really their place to anyway...

  
Taking a deep breath, Gunther jumped down from one of the supply crates he was sitting on, getting everyone's attention. Glancing at each of the D3 group, Gunther took a moment before answering.

  
" _I am Insanity_."


	17. Gunther and Insanity

" _WHAT?!_ "

  
Gunther winced, his ears twitching at the sudden loudness. Even if he expected that reaction, it still didn't make the noise any less bothersome. Just as even if he expected the other group to be on the defensive, he didn't think that he'd find himself backed against a wall with a sword pointed at his face. He merely scowled at D3 Roman, keeping his nervousness under wraps for the time being. ' _Now is not the time to freak out_ ,' he reminded himself.

  
Almost as quickly, the sword was knocked out of the prince's hands. Gunther felt himself relax slightly when he saw D1 Aiden and D1 Arlo standing between himself and D3 Roman. "What are you two doing?!" D3 Roman demanded, looking at them as if they grew two heads. The rest of the D3 group looked to be in agreement with him while the others looked on edge.

  
"Defending our boyfriend, that's _what_ ," D1 Aiden growled out, glaring at him and ignoring the looks of utter bewilderment.

  
When it looked like D3 Aiden and D3 Arlo were about to say something, most likely some kind of argument, D1 Arlo spoke firmly, "You can either hear us out or risk facing down that lunatic by yourselves. _Your choice_."

  
"You can't possibly be serious!" D3 Roman shouted, reaching for the sword. However, Mendax stalked over to it and placed his foot down on the hilt, crossing his arms defiantly.

  
"Wait! Gurl, why are _you_ of all people defending him?!" D3 Remy asked.

  
"After everything he did-!" D3 Virgil started to protest, only to be interrupted.

  
"After everything he did, he came back from the dead and ultimately helped save us all," Mendax answered calmly, no sign of a lie anywhere. Following that, silence fell over the room as each group eyed the other uneasily.

  
"...Let them speak," D3 Thomas finally said, his voice holding no room for arguing.

* * *

 

  
D1 Aiden was the first to speak up, his glare never letting up.

  
_"Please..." he managed to gasp out, "...I'm sorry..."_

  
_Those words stunned Courage, stopping him just as he went to reach for Anger. However, it didn't matter as Anger felt himself let go of Gunther, watching as he slid down to the ground. His mind was racing as everything came rushing back to him. Between Courage refusing to fight him and now this sudden turn from Insanity, the spell stood no chance at controlling him any longer._

* * *

  
As soon as D1 Aiden finished speaking, he nodded to D1 Arlo.

  
_Anger glanced over at Courage, expression unreadable. Calmly, he walked over to Gunther and put his hand on the demon's shoulder. Gunther winced at the touch and waited for the inevitable attack from the side. However, to his surprise, nothing happened. "If I wanted to hurt you, I would have by now," Anger said. "You apologized and if it weren't for that, I could have seriously hurt Arlo while under Damon's spell."_

* * *

  
Once D1 Arlo was done, he looked over at Mendax.

  
_Gunther took another breath and forced himself to look the side in the eyes, "I'm sorry - for tormenting your family, for all the fucked up shit I caused in the Imagination, for trying to possess Thomas, for all the torment I put you and Virgil through..." He clenched his eyes shut as he felt tears try to escape. "I fucked up so many things and I'm sorry. If I could fix everything, I would in a heartbeat."_

  
_Mendax was taken aback by this. He knew that the demon apologized to Anger and Courage, he didn't know that it was the truth though. Every last word Mendax just heard - all of it true._

* * *

  
D1 Virgil was the next to speak up in Gunther's defense.

  
_"No," Gunther whispered to himself, panic starting to set in. "No, no, no!" He made a mad dash towards the two and saw Damon's attention suddenly shift towards D1 Virgil._

  
_"Not again!"_

  
_Before D1 Virgil could react, he felt himself being shoved out of the way of Damon's attack. To Damon's delight and to everyone else's shock, Gunther took the attack, letting out a harsh yell as electricity coursed through his body. Once the spell subsided, Gunther fell forward as he felt the last of his body's strength leave him. As he drifted in and out of consciousness, he swore he heard his name being shouted and someone roughly lifting him by his arm._

* * *

  
D1 Andy also stepped forward with his own defense of the demon.

  
_"I saw it before - the potential in you." Without another word, dark energy shot out from Gunther's hand and zapped D1 Andy. To D1 Andy's surprise however, it didn't hurt even though it looked like it should. Instead, he felt the energy rushing through him as a familiar black and red aura surrounded him. In an instant, he took on a more demonic appearance; his hands became clawed, his teeth became sharp, and his eyes changed color to bright red._

  
_"I don't know what the hell you just did but if it helps stop Damon, then I'm not complaining," D1 Andy said, holding one of his hands up to his face curiously._

  
_"I merely unleashed the power you had hidden within you," Gunther said, turning his attention to Damon. "Now then, I think it's time we put the dragon down."_

  
_D1 Andy smirked, a boost of confidence surging through him, "Sounds good to me."_

* * *

 

  
Finally, D1 Thomas went last, making eye contact with his counterpart as he spoke.

  
_"Now!" Gunther yelled, rushing at Damon. D1 Andy grabbed the sword and followed after the demon._

  
_"What-?!" Damon screeched in pain as Gunther attacked his uninjured eye repeatedly, effectively leaving him blinded. "No, no, no!" With Damon now unable to see, D1 Andy was able to get close enough to the dragon. Gathering his strength, D1 Andy plunged the sword through the top of Damon's head. Immediately, Damon's body began to shake and he let out one final electric attack that hit both Gunther and D1 Andy. In an instant, Damon fell over and his body reverted back to its original form as he lied on ground, dead._

* * *

  
Deceit groaned as he came to and tried to look around, his vision in his eye still bleary. Hisses and growls rang in his ears as some of the rat mutants appeared in front of him. One of them, a particularly big and muscular mutant with a notched ear, moved forward as if to bite him, only for it to be held back by a chain around its neck.

  
"Enough, Ripper," Insanity said as he walked in the room, throwing a piece of raw beef to the mutant. Deceit watched in disgust as the mutant gleefully teared into the meat and hissed at the other rats who dared to get too close. "As for the rest of you... _GO FIND THE OTHERS_!" Insanity yelled angrily, pointing at the open door.

  
Deceit watched as the mutants scurried out the door before focusing on Insanity, glaring at the doctor. Insanity merely waved his hand dismissively, "Oh goody, you're awake. I see you met Ripper. Ripper, this is Daxy, your older brother." The rat mutant merely looked up and hissed before going back to its meal.

  
"That...thing is not my brother!" Deceit shouted angrily, fighting against the shackles that kept him trapped once more.

  
"Oh, I didn't mean it in the literal sense," Insanity responded. "I meant in the sense that while you were my first proper test subject, Ripper here was my second. By far the most successful I might add."

  
Deceit's face was a mixture of confusion and disgust at his words, "What the hell _don't_ you mean by that?"

  
Insanity merely rolled his eyes, "Unlike _you_ , Ripper is _strong_ and more importantly, _loyal_. Don't get me wrong, I still intend to make you see the error of your ways for working against me, but Ripper is the top monster of my forces now."

  
Deceit let out a warning hiss, only for it to be answered by Ripper, causing Insanity to laugh at the sight. "When I get out of here-!"

  
"Oh _shut up_ already!" Insanity snapped, digging into his coat pocket. After a few seconds, he pulled out a mechanical orb. "Now then..."

  
"The hell _isn't_ that thing?!" Deceit growled as a warning, gaining Ripper's proper attention. Ripper got up and looked ready to march over to Deceit, despite the chain still holding it back.

  
" _What. did. I. just. say_?" Insanity ground out, walking over to Deceit. He grabbed the other side's throat with his free hand to keep his head still. With the other hand, he swiped the eye patch from Deceit and held the orb up. "See this? Mechanical eye with the built-in bonus of putting you under my control."

  
"Fuck...you!" Deceit managed to yell, struggling as much as he could manage.

  
Insanity merely gave him a toothy grin, sharp teeth glinting in the dim light of the supply room they were in. In a split second, Deceit yelled in agony as Insanity shoved the mechanical eye into his eye socket, his screams giving way to Insanity's laughter.


	18. Confrontation

Sometime later, a sudden banging against the doors alerted the two groups to the danger right outside. Hissing and growling accompanied the banging as the mutants outside tried desperately to break in. However, the supply crates were holding steady for the time being.

  
"Shit," Gunther muttered as he jumped to his feet.

  
"The doors will hold...right?" D3 Thomas asked.

  
"Even if they do we can't just stay in here forever," Gunther answered, a scowl on his face. In a moment, just as quickly as the banging began, it stopped. No noise was heard from outside whatsoever, sending a collective chill down everyone's backs. As if someone knew this was the case, screeching and scampering feet were heard from the rats before becoming silent again.

  
"...Anyone think it's safe enough for now?" D1 Teal asked, loading up his crossbow as his counterpart the weapon wearily. D1 Pryce followed his example, unsheathing his sword.

  
D1 Andy jumped down from one of the crates and flicked open his switchblade, "Sounds like it."

  
Sounds of crates being moved could be heard outside the doors, followed by quiet footsteps as one by one, the group walked out. D1 Thomas and his counterpart took the lead, motioning for the others to remain silent throughout the halls. Faint hissing and growling could be heard but it seemed like no matter what way the group went, it never got any louder or softer.

  
Unbeknownst to them, someone was following the group. He kept his distance, hiding around corners as need be. With him were a decent-sized group of the rat mutants from earlier. Waving his hand, he got their attention and pointed at the group. As soon as he did that, the mutants rushed forward, catching them off guard in a panic.

  
The person stood back in the shadows and crossed his arms, a smirk on his face. ' _How I missed seeing from both eyes_ ,' he thought to himself.

  
"Shit, where the hell did they come from?!" D1 Remy yelled, dodging out of the way of a pair of sharp claws.

  
"We can worry about that later! Just spread out down the halls and fight these bastards!" D1 Aiden yelled, kicking the one closest to himself as far back as he could. The others quickly followed suit, fighting back against the mutants.

* * *

  
D1 Teal inadvertently ended up working together with his counterpart. The two figments made their way down one of the other halls, four of the creatures in pursuit. D3 Teal ran ahead and as soon the rats focused their attention solely on him, they were hit by a well-aimed arrow in their necks. Two of them collapsed in a pool of their own blood while the other two turned their focus on D1 Teal. As soon as they did, his counterpart hit them as hard as he could with a crowbar stolen from one of the supply crates.

  
"Nice one, _Dr. Freeman_ ," D1 Teal grinned. In response, his counterpart merely rolled his eyes.

  
Through one of the halls, D1 Remy and his counterpart were running as fast as they could, four more of the mutants steadily chasing after them. "Yeah, that's right bitches, just keep following!"  
"Are you crazy?! Don't encourage them!" D3 Remy yelled out in protest.

  
"Relax gurl, I got this." Once they ended up as huddled up together as possible, the figment smirked and turned around suddenly. In a moment, the rats were in a pile on the floor, having been drop-kicked. As they struggled to untangle themselves, four shots suddenly rang out and they all dropped back to the floor, dead.

  
The two looked up and stared ahead. Standing there was D1 Dayd, a pistol in hand. His counterpart could be seen standing behind him, looking pale at what he just witnessed.

  
"Geeze..." D3 Dayd whispered in disbelief, mostly to himself.

  
"...So much for the whole " _pacifist_ " thing," D1 Remy said, raising an eyebrow.

  
"Sometimes sacrifices have to be made," D1 Dayd muttered, motioning for the two to come over. "Consider this making up for not helping as much as I should have against Damon."

  
"Seriously, you're still stressed out over that?" D1 Remy asked, grimacing as he made his way past the corpses. ' _I'm gonna talk to Teal later about that..._ '

* * *

  
After at least thirty minutes rolled by, the person who was following the group was starting to get fed up. Even after his "friends" forced the group in separate directions, the rats still weren't back yet with them as prisoners. Making his way down the halls, he scowled as he kicked aside corpse after corpse. "Useless, useless, useless!" He ranted out loud to himself.

  
However, he quieted down as soon as he made it to a clearing that connected the halls all together. Standing there was the group, looking a bit worse than they did beforehand, but nothing significant. ' _As I said, useless!_ ' He thought to himself.

  
"Okay, I think at this point we literally checked every freaking hallway there is in this place," D1 Andy complained. Some of the others from both sets of groups nodded in agreement with him.

  
It was then the person saw his chance. ' _Just play it cool..._ ' He thought to himself, a smirk crossing his face. Creeping closer but staying just enough in the shadows, he spoke up. "I _don't_ know where Insanity is."

  
At that, everyone's attention snapped over to him. " _DECEIT?!_ " D3 Aiden yelled in disbelief.

  
"Where have you been?!" D3 Arlo added, concern clear in his voice.

  
"I _haven't_ been dealing with those rats," Deceit answered. ' _Keep the answers brief. I don't need my counterpart calling my lies out._ ' "Follow me and I _won't_ show you where the lunatic is holed up." With that he turned on his heels and began walking down the hall he came from, taking care to keep his cape wrapped around himself.

  
With no reason to doubt him, the group ran to catch up with him. "Are you sure this is the right way?" D3 Thomas asked.

  
"Of course _not_ Thomas," Deceit answered, a fake scowl on his face. As he lead them, the halls started to slowly change over from bricks to concrete and the old, chipped floors gave way to smooth new ones, reinforcing what he claimed. Clearly, this was Insanity's work as, other than the fancy security room and cells, the rest of the building looked like it saw better days.

* * *

  
Soon enough, they arrived at a spacious room. The walls were lined with desks and all sorts of lab equipment. More unnervingly, some of the walls had cells and shackles built in, while right in the middle was an operating table. At the other end of the room, there was a balcony that would let one oversee everything there. Once the last of the group set foot into the room, a pair of doors slammed shut behind them, startling them.

  
"What the?!" D3 Thomas stared in disbelief.

  
"We're locked in," Gunther said, growling.

  
"Right you are!" A mockingly cheerful voice said, grabbing their attention. Up on said balcony was Insanity, a triumphant smirk on his face. "Well done, Daxy."

  
_"What?!_ "

  
Insanity reveled in the confusion and shock as it swept among the group. Deceit smirked and stepped forward, cape flowing behind him. His clawed hand, tail, and newly acquired mechanical eye were clear for everyone to see. "But of course _not_ , doctor," Deceit said, the collective gasp he heard music to his ears.

  
Mendax paled considerably as he took in the sight of his counterpart. He could tell from the start that he was hiding something with his cape. Experimentation done by Insanity to this extent however? It threw him for a massive loop as he began to feel horrified the more he thought about it.

  
The others weren't feeling much better about it either, especially not his counterpart's family. Hesitantly, D3 Virgil reached a hand out towards Deceit. "Dee... _w-what_ did he _do_?" He asked in utter disbelief. However, before he could actually touch Deceit, the other side teleported up to the balcony, standing beside Insanity.

  
"I made him _better_ \- _stronger_! _Loyal_ ," Insanity said gleefully, pointing a finger at Deceit's mechanical eye for emphasis. "I ain't a " _mad_ " scientist for nothing!" With that, Insanity's maniacal laughter filled the room.

  
Having heard and seen enough, Gunther stepped forward, a look of rage on his face. "You're not getting away with this!"

  
Insanity stopped laughing and tilted his head, raising an eyebrow, "Oh _really_? And _who_ are _you_ to be making threats against _me_ , demon?" Gunther glared, making eye contact with Insanity.

  
" _I am you._ "


	19. Vs. Ripper - Part 1

Insanity took a sharp breath and side-eyed Deceit. "The truth - yes or no?" He muttered at the other side. Deceit growled and nodded his head once, glaring down at the group. In particular, his eyes seemed to be trained on his counterpart.

  
"Tell me something," Insanity spoke, eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms. "Why the hell are _you_ working for _them_?"

  
Gunther clenched his fists as he glared at Insanity, "I'm not " _working for them_ ". I'm protecting _my family_!"

  
If Insanity had been drinking at the moment, there was no doubt he would have done a spit-take at Gunther's words. "And people say _I'm_ the one off my rocker," Insanity muttered, regaining his composure.

  
"That's because you are," D3 Logan said defiantly. "You're a side as well. If you kill Thomas then we'll all die - _you_ included."

  
"Hmph. For someone so _logical_ , that sure was one hell of a " _falsehood_ " you just spouted," Insanity said, raising an eyebrow. "Then again, even _you_ can't know everything. That is only true if we're in the mindscape if he were to die. Outside in the real world? Technically, you still have your jobs and your influence over him but otherwise, everyone's lives are their own."

  
"Nice of you guys to talk about me like I'm not here," D3 Thomas muttered, while his counterpart pat his back sympathetically.

  
" _Don't_ let me at them already," Deceit interrupted with a growl, side eyeing the doctor.

  
Insanity raised a hand to him, "Patience, Daxy; let Ripper have some fun with them first. He's wound up enough as it is." Deceit rolled his snake eye at that but still uttered out an agreement.

  
"Who the hell is Ripper?" D3 Aiden demanded, looking all too ready for a fight.

  
"I'm so glad you asked," Insanity responded with a smirk. Putting his finger and thumb in his mouth, he let out a quick, sharp whistle. Banging was heard from one of the cages, followed by a loud clang as the bars were busted off. Jumping out of the cage, Ripper landed on all fours and let out a rage-filled roar. Insanity had a maniacal look on his face as he watched his enemies. The fear he could see on their faces was exactly the kind of reaction he wanted. "Oh Ripper!" Insanity called down to him.

  
Ripper looked up and sniffed a bit before turning him attention to Insanity and Deceit. As he saw them, he let out a grunt and tilted his head. "Be a good rat and do me a favor. Deal with those damn idiots _but_! _Don't_ kill them," Insanity said, leaning on the balcony railing. "Do you understand, boy?"

  
Ripper took a few moments to think before nodding his head. Turning around to face the group, he let out a warning roar. D3 Aiden felt himself falter briefly at the sight of the mutant but quickly steeled himself. ' _I can't let fear get in the way! My son needs me..._ '

  
In a split second, Ripper lunged forward at the group, his mouth open and ready to bite someone. Before he could do so, however, D3 Aiden tackled him hard enough for both to roll across the floor. He then jumped to his feet and sucker punched the rat the minute Ripper got to his feet.

  
However, Ripper was not one to be deterred so fast. Using his tail as a whip, he aimed at D3 Aiden with it, slamming it down. D3 Aiden dodged out of the way and took a mental note of just how strong the impact would have been. When Ripper raised his tail, there were cracks surrounding a tail-shaped hole in the floor.

  
Suddenly, a roar rang out as blood started dripping into a small puddle. Pierced through part of Ripper's tail was an arrow. Ripper spun around and looked around the room, his eyes locking onto D1 Teal, loaded-up crossbow in hand. D1 Teal stood away from the rest of the group and glared at the mutant in response, as if daring him to move.

  
Taking it as a challenge, Ripper lunged at D1 Teal, claws and teeth bared. What he wasn't counting on was D1 Teal ducking down at the last possible moment. Ripper landed on his front feet and pushed himself forward, flipping into the air before landing on his back feet. The minute his back was turned, another arrow was shot at him. His ears alerted him to the sound of the crossbow going off and he snapped around, the arrow just barely grazing him as it ultimately hit the wall.

  
"You _don't_ realize that they have an advantage, right?" Deceit whispered to Insanity. "They easily outnumber Ripper."

  
"I'm aware of that," Insanity answered, pulling up one of the sleeves of his jacket. On his wrist was a band with a blue button on it. "Once I press this, then the real fun will begin."

  
"...Why _isn't_ it blue?" Deceit asked, genuinely curious.

  
"Because that color is so overused," Insanity stated, rolling his eyes. Pressing the button, each member of the group, except for D3 Aiden and D1 Teal, found themselves trapped by cell bars the descended from the darkened ceiling, ropes attached to the top of them.

  
"What the-?!" Both Thomases were cut off by Insanity's laughter.

  
"What the hell is the big idea?!" D3 Aiden yelled.

  
"My idea of entertainment," Insanity snarked. "Two by two, you'll fall in front of your friends and family while they can't do anything except wait for their turns to fight Ripper! Speaking of...get to it, Ripper!"

  
Ripper roared and used the distracted state of his current opponents to hit D1 Teal with his tail. As his tail connected with the figment's stomach, the force was enough to knock him backwards towards D3 Aiden. With the wind knocked out of him, D1 Teal heard as the crossbow fell to the floor and felt hands help him get his balance back.

  
" _Teal_!" D1 Dayd yelled, struggling helplessly to break the bars that kept him trapped. He felt rage building in himself as he was unable to do anything to help his boyfriend.

  
"Easy there," D3 Aiden whispered. "I'll keep him distracted so you can go get your weapon back."

  
"Right," D1 Teal gasped out, nodding his head slightly.

  
D3 Aiden rushed at Ripper, dodging his tail along the way. Once he was near Ripper's face, he uppercut the mutant. The attack sent Ripper falling to the floor, a loud hiss being heard as his back made contact with the concrete. Scrambling to his feet, Ripper tackled D3 Aiden to the ground and bit down on his shoulder as hard as possible. Ripper then let go and looked up, hearing noise nearby.

  
D1 Teal made a rush for the crossbow, quickly reloading it and aiming at Ripper. He panted as the arrow hit Ripper in one of his arms, getting the mutants attention. Ripper jumped off of D3 Aiden and focused back on D1 Teal, charging at him. Meanwhile, D3 Aiden winced as he got up, holding his bleeding shoulder. "I swear, I better not get fucking rabies from that...!"

  
D1 Teal dodged out of the way and fired off another arrow, this one hitting Ripper in the leg. However, Ripper kept going, blood dripping down from the wound. ' _Sheesh, how strong even is this thing!?_ ' D1 Teal thought to himself, watching as Ripper stopped just before he ran face first into a wall. Suddenly, Ripper became motionless, just staring at nothing. "What...?" D1 Teal asked, cautiously moving backwards.

  
"The hell is that thing doing?" D3 Aiden added, gritting his teeth in pain.

  
Ripper's head turned slowly and looking, not at them, but at Insanity. Insanity merely sighed and spoke, "No, you still can't kill them. Knock them out and I'll give you some raw meat for a snack." At hearing the word " _meat_ ", Ripper smirked and jumped at D1 Teal. As soon as he landed in front of the figment, he used his tail to improvise a drop kick.

  
"Shit..." D3 Aiden muttered, rushing towards the two. Ripper was ahead of him though and roughly picked D1 Teal by the throat. With a mighty swing of his arm, he threw the figment at the side hard enough to send them both flying into the nearest wall. Stalking over, Ripper sniffed at the two. Both were still alive but the impact knocked them unconscious. Upon being certain of that fact, Ripper separated the two and made an okay symbol with his hand at Insanity while the trapped group watched on in disbelief.

  
" _Aiden..._ " D3 Arlo trailed off, looking ready to beat the hell out of the mutant.

  
"Good work, boy," Insanity said. With a snap of his fingers, he conjured up some raw meat and threw it down to the mutant, just as he promised. Once more, Insanity pressed the blue button and two more sets of bars fell, each one trapping D1 Teal and D3 Aiden respectively. "Now, I have an idea on who should Ripper should fight next..." Insanity smirked, looking down at D1 Dayd and D3 Arlo.

  
All the while, Ripper teared into his meal savagely.


	20. Vs. Ripper - Part 2

D1 Andy growled lowly as he watched D1 Dayd and D3 Arlo fight against Ripper. Both of them were faring better than D1 Teal and D3 Aiden. There was no doubt in his mind that it was because of how enraged they both were, even if it was barely visible on their faces. He could tell from the tenseness of their movements that what they witnessed was having an effect on them.

  
The group watched as Ripper tackled D3 Arlo, landing on his back with a roar. The minute his hands touched the floor, he pushed up and flipped forward, kicking Ripper into the concrete. However, Ripper wasn't down for the count yet, instead using his tail to try and trip D3 Arlo up. While D3 Arlo did manage to jump out of the way for the most part, Ripper's tail suddenly wrapped around one of his ankles and pulled, knocking D3 Arlo back to the ground with a grunt.

  
As Ripper got up and turned to look at D3 Arlo, he was met with a kick to the head that sent him back to the ground in a slight daze. Shaking his head, Ripper looked over and let out an angry hiss. D1 Dayd glared down at the mutant, ready for whatever he tried. ' _I still don't like fighting..._ ' he cast a quick glance at D1 Teal's unconscious body before looking back at Ripper, ' _but this is for him_.'

  
' _They're doing well enough against that thing_ ,' D1 Andy thought to himself. ' _I still need to get out of this damn cage though!_ ' His hands gripped the bars and he grit his teeth as the fight continued on. While D1 Dayd was more of a strength-based fighter, D3 Arlo was a speed-based one. As it currently stood, D3 Arlo was serving to distract Ripper while D1 Dayd attacked the rat at every chance he could get.

  
After some time though, Ripper grew wise to this tactic and refocused his attention on D1 Dayd. He charged at the figment the moment he came close enough, knocking them both to the ground. Ripper slashed at D1 Dayd with his claws, lines of blood forming on his arms while the figment let out a yell.

  
' _Shit!_ ' D3 Arlo thought to himself, jumping to his feet. He rushed at the two of them and grabbed Ripper's arms, forcing them to go as backwards as he could. Following this, he stomped down on Ripper's tail, causing the rat to screech loudly. While D3 Arlo kept Ripper busy, D1 Dayd stumbled to his feet, pain visible on his face.

  
Seeing that happen was getting to D1 Andy. The other figment was the closest thing to a father D1 Andy had and to see him hurt filled him with rage. As that rage clouded his mind, he felt himself changing. While the changes began to take over, a memory of Gunther flashed in his mind.

  
_"I merely unleashed the power you had hidden within you."_

  
At that, D1 Andy found himself beginning to physically relax although he was still ticked off. Quickly glancing around, it was clear that everyone else's attention was focused on the fight. He then felt a surge of strength flow through him and once more gripped the bars. This time, he broke them easily and as quickly as possible.

  
Tossing one of the pieces of the bars into the air before catching it, he slowly looked over at Ripper. With a scowl, he threw the piece as hard as possible, nailing Ripper in the head just before he could bite down on D1 Dayd's arm. Ripper stopped and looked over, as did everyone else, a stunned silence filling the room.

  
"... _Who_ the hell did _that_?!" Insanity yelled. "Wait- better question. _How_?!"

  
 "Stay the fuck away from _my dad_."

  
As soon as that phrase was uttered, a hard kick to the chest sent Ripper flying backwards. He hit the wall and slumped down a bit before getting back onto his feet. Standing between him and his opponents was D1 Andy, shooting him a death glare.

  
Gunther watched D1 Andy, a mixture of surprise and pride on his face. ' _I knew I made the right call back during the fight with Damon. This just reinforces it tenfold._ '

  
Ripper growled and charged at D1 Andy. In the back of his savage mind, he knew that D1 Andy would dodge out of the way. What he wasn't expecting was the figment to do so by jumping onto his back and then using him as a springboard to jump up to the balcony. " _Oh shit_ -! Get him!" Insanity yelled, the sudden appearance of the figment startling him.

  
D1 Andy dodged out of Deceit's way and lunged at Insanity, grabbing his wrist hard enough to break the device that controlled the cells. Immediately, the cell bars rose back up to the ceiling, freeing everyone else. "Bingo," D1 Andy muttered, ducking just as the doctor's free fist headed for his face. He then grabbed Deceit by his cape and flung both of them over the balcony. "Special delivery!" D1 Andy taunting yelled before jumping down.

  
Insanity groaned as he hit the ground and got to his feet. With a snap of his fingers, Ripper ran over to his side. On his other side stood Deceit, looking ready for a fight. Facing them down were several pissed off people and out of the corner of his eye, he saw D1 Dayd and D3 Arlo rush over to their respective boyfriends.

  
"I _don't_ get dibs on fighting Mendax," Deceit uttered to Insanity.

  
Insanity merely nodded in response, "Just as I get dibs on my counterpart. Ripper." Ripper grunted in response. "I know you don't like help but..." Another snap of his fingers and a large group of normal rat mutants appeared, all hissing and growling.

  
"Deal with it."


	21. Mendax Vs. Deceit

A smirk was the only warning Mendax received before a hard punch to the gut left him stumbling backwards, gasping for breath. As Mendax tried to regain his balance, Deceit whipped his tail at his counterpart's legs, knocking him to the ground. Deceit casually walked over to him, paying no mind to the fighting going on around him. Instead, his eyesight was trained on Mendax and with one quick motion, Mendax found himself being lifted up by the collar of his cape.

  
" _Don't_ start fighting," Deceit demanded, looking annoyed.

  
"What are you-?" Mendax was cut off by his counterpart shaking him slightly.

  
"You're hesitating," Deceit answered. "I _can't_ tell. Stop that and start fighting."

  
Without another word, Mendax was tossed backwards, just barely landing on his feet. Scowling, Mendax looked up at Deceit, who in turn was standing there with his arms crossed. 'He wants a fight so bad? Fine then, I'll give him one.' With that thought in mind, Mendax rushed at Deceit and aimed a punch right at his face.

  
Deceit ducked out of the way and tried to trip Mendax up with his tail again. However, he was ready for that this time and jumped up to dodge it. Following this distraction, Mendax tackled Deceit to the ground and sucker punched him on the scaled side of his face. Before he could land another punch, Mendax's fist was blocked by Deceit's clawed hand.

  
Gripping it tightly, Deceit smirked and began to twist Mendax's hand and wrist. Mendax winced and made a grab for Deceit's own wrist with his free hand but Deceit grabbed his arm. Holding him in place, Deceit kept twisting slowly until Mendax let out a yell. Only after doing so did Deceit finally let him go. This reprieve was short lived as the next thing Mendax knew, he was flipped into the air and landed on his back with a hard thud.

  
Groaning, Mendax rolled over and got back on his feet. His eyes narrowed as he focused on the mechanical eye. ' _Need to break that thing somehow..._ ' As soon as he thought that, Mendax rushed at Deceit, determination on his face. Deceit rushed at him with a smirk and the two met half-way, Deceit slashing at Mendax with his clawed hand. However, Mendax dodged out of the way and aimed a swift kick at his counterpart's side.

  
Deceit jumped back from the kick and wrapped his tail around one of Mendax's ankles. Quickly, he pulled his tail back towards himself, knocking Mendax down. As this happened, Mendax put his hands down in front of him to keep from hitting the ground entirely. Using this as leverage, Mendax twisted around and lunged at Deceit, tackling him to the ground.

  
Deceit let out a growl as he hit the ground and blocked a punch with his arm. Pulling his legs up, he kicked them outwards, knocking Mendax off of him. Mendax lied on the ground, feeling dazed after that. As the dizziness faded, an idea came to him. Staying as still as possible, Mendax just waited.

  
Raising an eyebrow, Deceit stalked over to his counterpart. "What the hell _aren't_ you-?!" The minute he appeared in Mendax's vision, his counterpart lunged up at him. After a brief scuffle, Deceit landed on the ground with Mendax's foot pressed down on his chest to keep him there. "Get off of me!" Deceit growled out.

  
Taking a deep breath, Mendax steeled himself and looked down at his counterpart. "Sorry about this." With that said, he quickly reached down and carefully gripped the raised sides of the mechanical eye. The minute he noticed Deceit's clawed hand try to reach over and grab his wrist, he quickly moved his other foot and pressed that arm back to the ground, earning a hiss of pain from his counterpart.

  
With a grimace, Mendax closed his eyes and put the rest of his strength into his arm. As he began to pull at the eye, he could feel warm blood touch his skin. Resisting the urge to gag, he did his best to tune out the yells of pain coming from Deceit. "I'm sorry," he uttered once more as he gave a hard tug. A sharp cry of pain rang in his ears before dying down.

  
Finally opening his eyes, he looked at Deceit. His counterpart had fallen unconscious, blood dripping down his face. Tossing the mechanical eye away, it hit the wall and broke into pieces. Taking several breaths, Mendax carefully picked his counterpart up and carried off to the entrance of the room, away from the rest of the battlefield. Focusing, he conjured up some emergency medical supplies and went to work to get the bleeding eye socket to stop long enough so Gunther could take care of it after everything was said and done.

  
Glancing up briefly, he watched as the others valiantly fought against the rat mutants. A small smirk crossed his face as he noticed that Andy had Ripper "on the ropes" so to speak. As for Gunther, Mendax finally spotted him at the far end of the room, fighting Insanity.

  
"Give him hell, Gunther."


	22. Vs. Insanity

Gunther growled as his hands gripped Insanity's, both sides trying to push the other back.

  
"You _really_ think you're a match against me?" Insanity taunted.

  
"Says the guy fighting a _demon_ ," Gunther muttered, letting his grip go, only to drop kick Insanity.

  
Insanity jumped out of the way, however, and tackled Gunther to the ground. His hands were around Gunther's neck as he grinned maniacally at his counterpart. "You're a demon but you're w _eak_! You're _blinded_ by your concern over your so-called " _family_ "!"

  
Gunther scowled and used his legs to flip Insanity off of himself, mimicking D3 Arlo's move against Ripper from earlier. "If I wanted to hear any of that bullshit, I'd go track down my great-grandfather in the Demon Realm," Gunther responded, picking Insanity up by the front of his lab coat. Before Insanity could register what was going on, he was thrown into the wall.

  
" _Motherfucker_..." Insanity groaned as he slid down the wall. Pushing himself up, he heard Gunther approaching him. Quietly, he reached into one of his lab coat pockets and pulled out a dagger. Once the footsteps stopped, Insanity spun around to face Gunther, stabbing him in the arm.

  
Gunther winced and immediately retaliated by punching Insanity in the face. Insanity kept his grip on the dagger as he stumbled back, yanking it out of Gunther's arm. Regaining his composure, Insanity held the dagger out as a warning. "Like I said," Insanity said, smirking, "you're weak!"

  
Gunther carefully touched his arm and felt blood beginning to seep through his lab coat. "The only weak one here..." He trailed off, concentrating on what he was about to do. Quickly, familiar shadow-like tendrils rose up from his skin, as if phasing through a wall. In an instant, a dark aura surrounded him as he shot a death glare at Insanity. "...Is _you_."

  
If Insanity was shaken by this sudden transformation then he was doing his damnedest not to show it. Instead he lunged at Gunther, eyes wide in a fit of rage. "I've come too far to lose now!"  Gunther didn't respond, instead punching Insanity in the stomach once he got close enough. He then followed up with an elbow to the back, the dagger clattering to the ground.

  
However, Insanity had another trick up his sleeve. Snapping his fingers, Insanity conjured up a ray gun and started blasting at Gunther. Gunther dodged each blast, noting that it was strong enough to blast holes into the concrete floor. ' _Shit, gotta keep focused._ '

  
"There's _always_ more than one way to accomplish something," Insanity mocked, aiming the gun at his counterpart.

  
"You won't be able to hit me," Gunther replied, shaking his head. "I'll just keep fucking dodging until I take your little toy and break it."

  
Insanity merely tsked as he rolled his eyes, "What did I literally just say not even five seconds ago?" As soon as he said this, he suddenly pointed his weapon at the nearest person to them and took a shot. Just as he anticipated, the noise from the gun and his counterpart's yell of pain got everyone else's attention.

  
"Gunther?!" D1 Thomas yelled, taking in the sight of the demon in between him and Insanity. It was then that things clicked into place, that Insanity initially shot at him and that Gunther stepped in to save him.  
Gunther kneeled on the floor, breathing heavily as he held his hand to his left side. "You sneaky bastard," he remarked, groaning in pain. The next thing he knew, Arlo and Aiden were by his side, helping him to his feet.

  
Insanity merely shrugged, "All's fair in war and all that crap." With that being said, he moved his hand from side to side, as if trying to decide who to shoot next. While the lot of them were distracted, no one realized that someone else had come to. Even Mendax didn't realize that a certain someone was gone until after the fact.

  
Quietly and as quickly as he could, the person in question forced his way to the balcony, using the shadows at the edges of the room to keep himself concealed for the moment. Once he got up there, he took a breath and placed his hands on an _on/off_ switch. Throwing it, the lights went out, enveloping the room in almost total darkness, save for the lights coming through the door to the hallway.

  
"What the-?!" Insanity looked around as best he could, just barely able to make out the three people before him.

  
Making his way back down, the person silently stalked over to Insanity, appearing behind him. Lunging at Insanity's back, he tackled the scientist to the ground and a scuffle ensued. At that point, the two were far enough away from the others that he was comfortable dealing with Insanity.

  
"Deceit!" Insanity yelled angrily, having felt the clawed hand on his neck briefly.

  
"You. Are. Mine." Deceit growled out, grabbing Insanity's wrist and twisting it. He kept at it until Insanity dropped the gun to the ground. As soon as it did, Deceit spun Insanity around, twisting the rest of his arm behind his back, delighting in the yell he received.

  
He then kicked Insanity into the wall, letting go of his arm as he did so. Insanity hit the wall with a grunt and stood up, clenching his eyes shut at the pain in his arm. All the while, Deceit placed his boot down on the ray gun. With a hard stomp, he destroyed the weapon and looked up at Insanity, the hallway offering them both some light so they could see the other.

  
Deceit sneered at the desperate look of anger on Insanity's face. "You _don't_ talk a lot of shit but the minute all your " _toys_ " are taken away, your true colors show." Having said that, Deceit caught Insanity off guard by rushing at him, pinning him to the wall, hand on his throat. "I can't believe I was ever afraid of a coward like you."

  
Insanity began snickering at Deceit, "Go right ahead, Daxy - _kill me_. Kill me and prove once and for all that my experiments were a success. Prove to yourself and everyone else that you're finally the _monster_ you were meant to be."

  
Deceit was silent as Insanity finished speaking. The hand on the scientist's throat began to loosen its grip as Deceit closed his eyes. Suddenly, it felt like the room was spinning and everything was simultaneously too loud and too silence all at once. "I'm not a monster," he began muttering over and over, earning a laugh from Insanity.

  
That laugh shocked him back to his senses and he opened his eyes. "No!" Deceit shouted, shoving his claws into Insanity's stomach. He watched as shock washed across Insanity's face, letting go of the scientist. He knew that Insanity was only incapacitated by that attack but despite everything, Deceit couldn't bring himself to kill his enemy.

  
As Insanity slumped to the floor unconscious, Deceit fell to his hands and knees. The sounds and the silence were back and he felt a headache coming on. His vision began fading in and out as his exhaustion once more caught up with him. Looking over at Insanity before collapsing, he uttered out a few words towards the other side, "I'm not like you."

  
" _DECEIT!_ "


	23. Aftermath/Epilogue

Deceit groaned as he came to, placing his human hand on his head as he felt the headache from earlier start up again. ' _Bandages?_ ' Sure enough, there were some wrapped around his head, covering the eye socket. Just like that, everything that transpired before he passed out came rushing back. Forcing himself to sit up, he looked around the room he found himself in.

  
' _This looks like...Thomas's room_?'

  
"Dee! You're awake!"

  
Deceit found himself startled as a sudden weight landed on the bed with him. The next thing he knew, he was being pulled into a tight hug. He winced slightly, his body yelling at him to lay back down. However, he ignored it in favor of returning the hug, wrapping his arms around D3 Patton.

  
"No, no, this is all just a dream," Deceit joked, causing D3 Patton to pull back and look at him. When the other side didn't say anything after a minute, Deceit grew a bit concerned. "...Patton?"

  
D3 Patton giggled, unable to keep a straight face. "You goof!" He replied, playfully shoving his shoulder.

  
Deceit sighed and relaxed, leaning back against the headboard. "So what happened after I passed out?"

  
It was then that D3 Patton's expression became more serious. "All of the rat creatures are gone, along with that giant one. I don't know about the building Insanity was using but I overheard D1 Aiden talking with your counterpart. They might have destroyed it?"

  
Deceit nodded his head, " _Bad_ idea on their part; we don't need any evidence of Insanity's bullshit left over in the real world for other people to find." Silence followed as Deceit closed his eye.

  
After a bit, D3 Patton shook him gently, "Dee?"

  
"I'm _totally_ asleep," he muttered, cracking his eye open. "Tell me something. What are we going to do with Insanity?"

  
"I've already dealt with him," a voice interrupted. Standing in the doorway was Gunther, his arms crossed. "He's not dead - he's just locked up."

  
The two glanced at each other, confusion evident. "Locked up where?" D3 Patton asked.

  
"A prison cell in the Demon Realm," Gunther said. "Had to pull a few strings with an old acquaintance of mine but Insanity won't be bothering anyone for a long while."

  
A few days and some clean up of the house later, it was time for the D1 group to depart back to their own world. Before they left, a small exchange went on. Gunther handed Insanity's teleportation device over to Deceit, along with handwritten instructions on how to open portals magically. In return, Deceit gave him the blueprints for the device in question, having found it laying around in the scientist's old "lair". While the D3 groups bid their counterparts goodbye, they all felt relief wash over them. Insanity was gone and they could finally continue on with their lives.

* * *

"Alright! Time to wake up!"

  
Insanity growled as he sat up. He started at the bars of the prison cell, a scowl on his face. ' _This is humiliating..._ ' He thought to himself as the guards passed by, yelling at the rest of the row of inmates to wake up.  
Following them was a guy who looked more like he should have been in an old Western rather than a place like this. The person in question stopped in front of Insanity's cell and stared at him. "Ah come on with the long face, bud. Considering what ol' Gunther told me about you, you're getting off pretty easily."

  
"I'm stuck in a prison in the middle of the demon equivalent of nowhere, surrounded by idiots. Bite me " _Sheriff_ "," Insanity snapped.

  
He just shrugged in response, "Still better than being dead - and that's Sheriff _Jackal_ to you." Following this, he turned and walked away, ignoring Insanity's insults.

  
"You'll get over it!" He called out, not once looking back. ' _Now to enjoy the rest of my day_.'


End file.
